1972 Rugby League World Cup Final

The 1972 Rugby League World Cup was the sixth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 1970 tournament. The tournament was held in the France from 28 October, culminating in the final between Great Britain and Australia on 11 November.

Great Britain

Scores and results list Australia's points tally first.

Opposing Team	For	Against	Date	Venue	Attendance	Stage
Australia	27	21	29 October	Stade Gilbert Brutus, Perpignan	6,300	Group Stage
France	13	4	1 November	Stade Lesdiguières, Grenoble	13,231	Group Stage
New Zealand	53	19	4 November	Stade du Hameau, Pau	7,500	Group Stage

Great Britain were undefeated going into the final.

Australia

Scores and results list Great Britain's points tally first.

Opposing Team	For	Against	Date	Venue	Attendance	Stage
Great Britain	21	27	29 October	Stade Gilbert Brutus, Perpignan	6,300	Group Stage
New Zealand	9	5	1 November	Parc des Princes, Paris	8,000	Group Stage
France	5	19	5 November	Stadium Municipal, Toulouse	10,332	Group Stage

11 November 1972

Great Britain	10 – 10 (ET)	Australia
Tries: Clive Sullivan Mike Stephenson Goals: Terry Clawson (2)	[2]	Tries: John O'Neill Arthur Beetson Goals: Ray Branighan (2)

Stade de Gerland, Lyon Attendance: 4,231 Referee: Georges Jameau

Great Britain

Australia

FB 1 Paul Charlton RW 2 Clive Sullivan (c) RC 3 Chris Hesketh LC 4 John Walsh LW 5 John Atkinson SO 6 John Holmes SH 7 Steve Nash PR 8 Terry Clawson HK 9 Mike Stephenson PR 10 David Jeanes SR 11 Phil Lowe SR 12 Brian Lockwood LF 13 George Nicholls Substitutions: IC 14 Bob Irving IC 15 Coach: Jim Challinor

FB 1 Graeme Langlands (c) RW 2 John Grant RC 3 Mark Harris LC 4 Geoff Starling LW 5 Ray Branighan FE 6 Bob Fulton HB 7 Dennis Ward PR 8 John O'Neill HK 9 Elwyn Walters PR 10 Bob O'Reilly SR 11 Arthur Beetson SR 12 Gary Stevens LK 13 Gary Sullivan Substitutions: IC 14 Fred Jones IC 15 Coach: Harry Bath

The French public seemed uninterested in a final that did not involve the home team, as less than 4,500 spectators turned up. Indeed, out of the seven games in the World Cup tournament, including the final, the only games that drew over 10,000 fans were two of the three games in which the French team played. The Final actually drew the lowest attendance of the tournament.[3]

The game will always be remembered by the British for their captain Clive Sullivan's wonderful long distance try[4][5] and by the Australians for perhaps "the greatest try never scored",[6] later shown on TV to be legitimately scored by Australian fullback Graeme Langlands who chased and dived to catch Dennis Ward's bomb in mid-air, but it disallowed by French referee Georges Jameau who believed the Australian captain to be offside.[7] Mike Stephenson scored the 73rd-minute try that helped Great Britain level the scores and secure the World Cup.[8]

Had Aussie winger Ray Branighan succeeded with a 79th-minute penalty or Bob Fulton landed one of three drop goal attempts in the last five minutes, the cup could easily have gone to Australia. But for the first time in the competition's history the scores were level at full-time. An additional twenty minutes extra time was played, but no further score resulted, and Great Britain were awarded the cup by virtue of a better position in the table.[9]