1985 Kangaroo tour of New Zealand
The 1985 Kangaroo Tour of New Zealand was a mid-season tour of New Zealand by the Australia national rugby league team. The Australians played six matches on tour, including the final two games of a three-game test series against the New Zealand with the first test taking place in Brisbane on 18 June. The NZ tour began on 19 June and finished on 10 July.[1]
Leadership
After long time coach Frank Stanton stepped down from representative coaching duties after Australia's successful defense of The Ashes in 1984 against the touring Great Britain Lions, the Australian Rugby League appointed former World Cup and Parramatta Eels coach Terry Fearnley as head coach of the Kangaroos. The team was captained by Wally Lewis who had also captained the team in 1984.
Controversy
While he was named Australian coach, Terry Fearnley had also been appointed as New South Wales State of Origin coach in 1985. The Blues won their first ever Origin series in 1985 after winning games 1 and two. In what was to prove a case of bad planning, the test series and the tour of New Zealand were scheduled to take place between games 2 and 3 of the Origin series.
Rumours soon surfaced that Fearnley and Lewis did not get along on tour. Lewis later confirmed this by admitting in television interviews that the pair hated each other while Fearnley openly admitted that in light of the circumstances he could have done a better job in bringing the team together. Lewis also publicly stated that he believed Fearnley openly favoured the teams vice-captain, NSW's Wayne Pearce as well as the rest of the Kangaroos who were in his NSW team. At one point before the third test in Auckland, Lewis claimed to have caught Fearnley and Pearce going over team selection in Fearnely's hotel room, something strongly denied by the pair.
Fearnley himself created controversy on the tour. In the book King Wally which was published in 1987, Wally Lewis claimed that Fearnley had said of team member Michael O'Connor (a NSW player) "Can't play, no heart. Lucky he can kick goals or he wouldn't be here". The publishing of this story led to some animosity over the coming years between Lewis and O'Connor despite them being regular test team mates until the end of 1989. But the biggest controversy came from the team selection for the third test. Fearnley dropped four players from the second test win, all Queenslanders (Chris Close, Mark Murray, Greg Dowling and Greg Conescu - Close and Dowling dropped to the bench), which caused all hell to break loose and prompted Queensland Rugby League Chairman, Senator Ron McAuliffe, to publicly condemn the dropping of the four Queensland players from a winning Test side, saying "Its a football assassination and beyond all reasoning. And there can be no reasonable excuse for it".[2]
With the replacement players in place (Steve Ella, Des Hasler, Peter Tunks and Benny Elias), the disjointed Kangaroos would go on to lose the third test 18–0, the first time they had been held scoreless since losing 19–0 to Great Britain in 1956. Such was the animosity in the group between the NSW and Qld players that according to second row forward Paul Vautin (a Queenslander), dropped players Mark Murray and Greg Conescu acted as the Australian teams statisticians for the game. In his book Fatty: The Strife and Times of Paul Vautin, he told that both recorded a number of errors that were actually made by team mates to the players who replaced them in the side, Hasler and Elias.[3]
Terry Fearnley stepped down as Australian coach following the tour. He would be replaced in 1986 by 1956–57 Kangaroo tourist and Canberra Raiders head coach Don Furner.
As a result of the problems during the tour, the Australian Rugby League made a number of decisions for future Australian teams, including:
- No current State of Origin coach can also be the current Australian coach.
- Mid-season test series will take place after the Origin series and not during one to avoid bringing the NSW vs Qld rivalry into the Australian team.
Touring squad
First test
Immediately prior to the tour, the first test took place at Lang Park in Brisbane on 18 June. This match is most remembered for the sideline fight between rival prop forwards Greg Dowling and Kevin Tamati after the pair had been sent to the sin-bin for fighting.[4]
Tuesday, 18 June |
Australia .svg.png.webp){kind=small} |
26 – 20 |  New Zealand |
|---|---|---|
| Tries: John Ribot (2) Noel Cleal Chris Close Goals: Mal Meninga (2) John Ribot (1) |
[5] | Tries: Dean Bell Olsen Filipaina Hugh McGahan Goals: Olsen Filipaina (4) |
          Australia
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    New Zealand
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Tour
The Australian's played six games on the tour, winning five.
| Wednesday, 19 June | South Island  |
0 – 56 |  Australia |
Queen Elizabeth II Park, Christchurch | |
| Tries: Goals: |
[6] | Tries: Goals: |
Attendance: 6,800 |
| Wednesday, 26 June | Central Districts  |
4 – 24 | Australia |
Basin Reserve, Wellington | |
| Tries: Goals: |
[7] | Tries: Goals: |
Attendance: 5,500 |
Second test
The Australian's escaped with a 10-6 win over New Zealand thanks to a last minute try to winger John Ribot.
Sunday, 30 June |
| New Zealand |
6 – 10 | Australia |
|---|---|---|
| Tries: James Leuluai Goals: Olsen Filipaina (1) |
Tries: John Ribot Goals: Mal Meninga (2) John Ribot (1) |
Carlaw Park, Auckland Attendance: 19,132 Referee: Julien Rascagneres  Man of the Match: Olsen Filipaina |
New Zealand
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Australia
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| Wednesday, 3 July | Northern Districts | 6 – 52 | Australia |
Okara Park, Whangarei | |
| Tries: Goals: |
[8] | Tries: Goals: |
Attendance: 1,500 |
Third test
The dead rubber third test also doubled as the first game of the 1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup tournament. John Ribot, Steve Ella, John Ferguson, Peter Wynn and Chris Close played their last tests for Australia.
Sunday, 7 July |
| New Zealand |
18 – 0 | Australia |
|---|---|---|
| Tries: Clayton Friend (2) James Leuluai Goals: Olsen Filipaina (3) |
Tries: Goals: |
New Zealand
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Australia
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| Wednesday, 10 July | Auckland  |
10 – 50 | Australia |
Carlaw Park, Auckland | |
| Tries: Goals: |
[9] | Tries: Goals: |
Attendance: 18,000 |
References
- 1985 Kangaroo Tour of New Zealand @ Rugby League Project
- McGregor, Adrian (1987). King Wally. Qld: Tandem Press. ISBN 9780908884353.
- Colman, Mike (1992). Fatty: The Strife and Times of Paul Vautin. Sydney: Ironbark Press. ISBN 9781875471171.
- Dowling vs Tamati fight
- 1st Test - Australia vs New Zealand
- South Island vs Australia
- Central Districts vs Australia
- Northern Districts vs Australia
- Auckland vs Australia