1975 Rugby League World Cup

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The 1975 Rugby League World Cup (officially known as the 1975 Rugby League World Championship<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>) was the seventh World Cup for men’s rugby league national teams and ran from 2 March to 12 November. Australia were the winners for a fourth time after topping the group table.<ref>Paddy McAteer (22 December 2010) "Whole World in their Hands" Template:Webarchive North West Evening Mail</ref>

Unlike previous World Cups, there was no one host country, with the five participating nations hosting matches over eight months. Each team had to play the others on a 'home and away' basis. For the first time Great Britain did not compete and instead England and Wales entered to participate for the first time, taking advantage of a glut of Welsh talent in the British game at the time.

Teams

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Venues

14 venues across the five competing countries hosted games of the 1975 Rugby League World Cup. Wales used their own home venue at Swansea, but also played home games in England in both Salford and Warrington. England also played a 'home' game against Wales at Lang Park in Brisbane, Australia.

Template:Flagicon Sydney	Template:Flagicon Marseille	Template:Flagicon Brisbane	Template:Flagicon Bradford	Template:Flagicon Wigan
Sydney Cricket Ground	Stade Vélodrome	Lang Park	Odsal Stadium	Central Park
Capacity: 70,000	Capacity: 49,000	Capacity: 40,000	Capacity: 40,000	Capacity: 40,000

Template:Flagicon Toulouse	Template:Flagicon Leeds	Template:Flagicon Bordeaux	Template:Flagicon Auckland	Template:Flagicon Salford
Stadium Municipal	Headingley	Stade du Parc Lescure	Carlaw Park	The Willows
Capacity: 35,000	Capacity: 32,000	Capacity: 30,000	Capacity: 20,000	Capacity: 17,000

Template:Flagicon Swansea	Template:Flagicon Christchurch	Template:Flagicon Warrington	Template:Flagicon Perpignan
St Helen's Rugby Ground	Addington Showgrounds	Wilderspool Stadium	Stade Gilbert Brutus
Capacity: 15,000	Capacity: 15,000	Capacity: 15,000	Capacity: 13,000

Warm-up games

The teams arranged a number of warm-up games against local opposition during the World Championship, detailed below.

England

Date	Opponents	Score	Venue	Attendance<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1 June	Western Australia	style="text-align: center;" Template:Won<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	Perth	6,000
7 June	Toowoomba	style="text-align: center;" Template:Won<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	Toowoomba	3,000
15 June	Southern Division (NSW)	style="text-align: center;" Template:Won<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	Gosforth	3,000
18 June	North Island (NZ)	style="text-align: center;" Template:Won<ref name="Big wins for touring England and Wales">Template:Cite news</ref>	Huntly	2,490
29 June	Illawarra	style="text-align: center;" Template:Lost<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	Wollongong	4,000
2 July	Brisbane	style="text-align: center;" Template:Lost<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	Brisbane	9,000
6 July	Papua New Guinea	style="text-align: center;" Template:Won<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	Port Moresby	12,000

Wales

Date	Opponents	Score	Venue	Attendance<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
5 June	Ipswich	style="text-align: center;" Template:Won<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	Ipswich	4,000
18 June	Wellington	style="text-align: center;" Template:Won<ref name="Big wins for touring England and Wales" />	Wellington	2,000
22 June	West Coast (NZ)	style="text-align: center;" Template:Won<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	Greymouth	2,000
24 June	Canterbury	style="text-align: center;" Template:Won<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	Christchurch	2,500
1 July	Auckland	style="text-align: center;" Template:Lost<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	Auckland	12,000
3 July	New Zealand Māori	style="text-align: center;" Template:Won<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	Rotorua	2,500

France

Date	Opponents	Score	Venue	Attendance<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
12 June	Auckland	style="text-align: center;" Template:Lost	Auckland	10,000
22 June	Wide Bay	style="text-align: center;" Template:Won	Bundaberg	4,000
25 June	Lithgow-Oberon	style="text-align: center;" Template:Won	Lithgow	1,360
27 June	NSW Group 6	style="text-align: center;" Template:Lost	Campbelltown	2,600
29 June	Monaro	style="text-align: center;" Template:Lost	Queanbeyan	5,700

Australia

Date	Opponents	Score	Venue	Attendance<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
30 September	Auckland	style="text-align: center;" Template:Won	Auckland	7,251
10 October	Salford	style="text-align: center;" Template:Won<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	Salford	5,357
12 October	St Helens	style="text-align: center;" Template:Won<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	St Helens	10,170
23 October	Rouergue XIII	style="text-align: center;" Template:Won	Albi	2,000
4 November	Oldham	style="text-align: center;" Template:Won<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	Oldham	3,575
9 November	York	style="text-align: center;" Template:Won<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	York	4,082

New Zealand

Date	Opponents	Score	Venue	Attendance<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
15 May	North Queensland Firsts	style="text-align: center;" Template:Lost	Townsville
18 May	Central Queensland	style="text-align: center;" Template:Won	Rockhampton
21 May	Northern Division	style="text-align: center;" Template:Won	Tamworth
24 May	NSW Country Firsts	style="text-align: center;" Template:Won	Newcastle	6,000
27 May	North Coast	style="text-align: center;" Template:Lost	Tweed Heads
1 November	South West France	style="text-align: center;" Template:Won
4 November	Barrow	style="text-align: center;" Template:Won<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	Barrow-in-Furness
9 November	Keighley	style="text-align: center;" Template:Won<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	Keighley

Results

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Template:Rugbybox In this match Mick Cronin kicked nine goals.

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Template:Rugbybox England winger Keith Fielding created a new record by scoring four tries against a hapless French team at Bordeaux.

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Template:Rugbybox Kangaroo wing prodigy Ian Schubert also scored a hat-trick tries.

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English stand-off Ken Gill ran in three tries. Template:Rugbybox

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Template:Rugbybox In this match Jim Mills, the Wales prop, was banned for the rest of the season after an altercation. The ban was eventually lifted on 2 January 1976.

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Final standings

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

|team1=AUS|name_AUS=Template:Rl |team2=ENG|name_ENG=Template:Rl |team3=WAL|name_WAL=Template:Rl |team4=NZL|name_NZL=Template:Rl |team5=FRA|name_FRA=Template:Rl |win_AUS=6|draw_AUS=1|loss_AUS=1|pf_AUS=198|pa_AUS=69 |win_ENG=5|draw_ENG=2|loss_ENG=1|pf_ENG=167|pa_ENG=84 |win_WAL=3|draw_WAL=0|loss_WAL=5|pf_WAL=110|pa_WAL=130 |win_NZL=2|draw_NZL=2|loss_NZL=4|pf_NZL=121|pa_NZL=149 |win_FRA=1|draw_FRA=1|loss_FRA=6|pf_FRA=40|pa_FRA=204 |result1=C|col_C=gold |update=complete|source= }}

Final challenge match

As Australia had not beaten England to win the World Cup (a draw and a loss), a one off challenge match was arranged, although this was not officially classed as a Final as Australia had already been crowned Champions after topping the group.

The Kangaroos showed they were worthy World Champions with a comprehensive 25–0 win at Headingley in front of a disappointing crowd of 7,680 which was over 11,000 less than had attended the 1970 World Cup final, between Great Britain and Australia, at the same venue. England had shown little interest in playing the game. Template:Rugbybox