1968 Rugby League World Cup

The 1968 Rugby League World Cup was the fourth World Cup for men’s national teams and was held between 25 May and 10 June and for the first time co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. Australia were the Champions after they defeated France in the final.

Background

The World Cup was initially set to be played in 1965 however, the Australian Board of Control recommended postponing the tournament to which the English Rugby League Council agreed in November 1964.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

For the first time a final to determine the World Cup was specifically pre-arranged (previous finals having only been used when teams finished level on points) and the tournament made a profit for the first time.Template:Citation needed

The 1968 World Cup was the first to be played under limited tackles rules, the number then being four tackles. The round 1 match between Great Britain and Australia attracted an attendance of 62,256, the highest for a World Cup match until 1992.<ref name="McCann06-83">McCann, 2006: 83</ref> The final was held at the Sydney Cricket Ground; a crowd of 54,290 watched Australia defeat France.<ref name="McCann06-83"/> The stars of the Australian team in the tournament were skipper Johnny Raper, second-rower Ron Coote, who scored spectacular tries in each and every game, and the dead-shot kicker Eric Simms, who harvested a record 25 goals (50 points).

Squads

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Venues

Template:Flagicon Sydney	Template:Flagicon Brisbane	Template:Flagicon Auckland
Sydney Cricket Ground	Lang Park	Carlaw Park
Capacity: 70,000	Capacity: 40,000	Capacity: 20,000
		File:Carlaw Park, 1958 (crop).jpg

Group Stage

{{#invoke:sports table|main|style=WDL |show_positions=n|res_col_header=Q |for_against_style=points|winpoints=2

|team1=AUS|name_AUS=Template:Rl |team2=FRA|name_FRA=Template:Rl |team3=GBR|name_GBR=Template:Rl |team4=NZL|name_NZL=Template:Rl |win_AUS=3|draw_AUS=0|loss_AUS=0|pf_AUS=93|pa_AUS=26 |win_FRA=2|draw_FRA=0|loss_FRA=1|pf_FRA=26|pa_FRA=49 |win_GBR=1|draw_GBR=0|loss_GBR=2|pf_GBR=50|pa_GBR=46 |win_NZL=0|draw_NZL=0|loss_NZL=3|pf_NZL=36|pa_NZL=84 |result1=A|result2=A |col_A=green2|text_A=Qualified for the World Cup final |update=complete|source= }}

Template:Rugbybox France: Jean-Claude Cros; Daniel Pellerin, Michel Molinier, Jean-Pierre Lecompte, André Ferren; Jean Capdouze, Roger Garrigue; Georges Ailleres (c), Yves Bégou, Christian Sabatié, Francis de Nadaï, Henri Marracq, Jean-Pierre Clar
New Zealand: R Tait; R Mincham, H Sinel, P Schultz, E Wiggs; J Bond (c), J Clarke; O Danielson, Colin O'Neil, George Smith, B Lee, J Dixon, A Kriletich; Henry Tatana.
After only twelve minutes, New Zealand second-rower Brian Lee was sent off in a match in which the classy French stand-off Jean Capdouze bagged 13 points. The game was also notable for the first World Cup substitution when Adolphe Alésina replaced second-rower Francis de Nadaï.

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Template:Rugbybox A record World Cup crowd of 62,256 saw New Zealand referee John Percival mercilessly penalising Great Britain, with debutant full-back Eric Simms booting a record eight goals in Australia's win.<ref>1968 RLWC Australia vs Great Britain</ref>

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Template:Rugbybox Simms repeated the feat of kicking eight goals as he had in the previous match as Australia eventually killed off New Zealand at Brisbane after trailing for much of the game.

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Template:Rugbybox France surprised Britain in a rain-ruined match at Auckland with an uncharacteristically stubborn defensive display and winger Jean-René Ledru, scoring the winning try to qualify for a World Cup final showdown against Australia.

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Template:Rugbybox In the final preliminary game in Brisbane, Australia's scrum-half back Billy Smith dropped three goals. French winger Jean-René Ledru and Australia's prop Artie Beetson were both sent off.

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Final

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The final had been billed a 'debacle' following Great Britain's inexplicable loss to France in Auckland, resulting in France contesting the final against Australia despite having been beaten by Australia seven tries to none two days prior.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Nonetheless, it attracted a record crowd of 54,290 for a World Cup final match. Template:Rugbyleaguebox

FB 1 Eric Simms LW 2 Johnny Rhodes RC 3 Graeme Langlands LC 4 Johnny Greaves RW 5 Lionel Williamson FE 6 Bob Fulton HB 7 Billy Smith LK 8 Johnny Raper (c) SR 9 Ron Coote SR 10 Dick Thornett PR 11 Arthur Beetson HK 12 Fred Jones PR 13 John Wittenberg Substitutions: IC 14 IC 15 Elton Rasmussen Coach: Template:Flagicon Harry Bath

FB 1 Jean-Claude Cros RW 2 Daniel Pellerin RC 3 Jacques Gruppi LC 4 Jean-Pierre Lecompte LW 19 Jean-René Ledru FE 6 Jean Capdouze HB 7 Roger Garrigue PR 8 Christian Sabatié HK 9 Yves Bégou PR 10 George Ailleres (c) SR 11 Francis de Nadaï SR 12 Henri Marracq LF 13 Jean-Pierre Clar Substitutions: IC 14 IC 16 Jacques Gruppi Coach: Template:Flagicon Jep Lacoste

The undefeated Australians went into the tournament decider as favourites.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> However France offered stern resistance and held the Australians to 0–7 at half-time and with quarter of an hour were only 0–12 down before losing 2–20. It was Australia's second World Cup title.

Try scorers

4

• Template:Flagicon Ron Coote
• Template:Flagicon Lionel Williamson
• Template:Flagicon Clive Sullivan

3

• Template:Flagicon Paul Schultz

2

• Template:Flagicon Bob Fulton
• Template:Flagicon Johnny Greaves
• Template:Flagicon Johnny King
• Template:Flagicon Billy Smith
• Template:Flagicon Ian Brooke
• Template:Flagicon Alan Burwell

1

• Template:Flagicon Fred Jones
• Template:Flagicon Johnny Raper
• Template:Flagicon Jean Capdouze
• Template:Flagicon Jean-René Ledru
• Template:Flagicon Arnie Morgan
• Template:Flagicon Mick Shoebottom
• Template:Flagicon Spencer Dunn

References

General

• Template:Cite book

External links

• 1968 World Cup at rlhalloffame.org.uk
• 1968 World Cup at rlwc2008.com
• 1968 World Cup at rugbyleagueproject.com
• 1968 World Cup data at hunterlink.net.auTemplate:Dead link
• 1968 World Cup at 188-rugby-league.co.uk