2005 Rugby League Tri-Nations
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox rugby league international tournament The 2005 Rugby League Tri-Nations was played in Great Britain and Australasia. The final was played between Australia and New Zealand at Elland Road on Saturday 26 November. New Zealand won the match 24-0 and were crowned 2005 Tri-Nations champions, breaking Australia's 27-year undefeated international tournament record.
The tournament was officially known as the 2005 Gillette Tri-Nations due to sponsorship from Gillette.
Participating teams
Each team was to play the other three twice during the round robin tournament. The top two finishing teams would then contest the final.
| Team | Nickname | Coach | Captain | RLIF Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Flagicon Australia | The Kangaroos | Wayne Bennett | Darren Lockyer | 1 |
| Template:Flagicon Great Britain | The Lions | Brian Noble | Jamie Peacock | 2 |
| Template:Flagicon New Zealand | The Kiwis | Brian McClennan | Ruben Wiki | 3 |
Officials
One referee from each participating nation was appointed to control matches in the Tri-Nations:
- Template:Flagicon Tim Mander (2 matches)
- Template:Flagicon Steve Ganson (4 matches)
- Template:Flagicon Glen Black (1 match)
Venues
The games were played at the following venues in Australia, New Zealand and England.
| Sydney | Auckland | London |
|---|---|---|
| Telstra Stadium | Ericsson Stadium | Loftus Road |
| Capacity: 83,500 | Capacity: 30,000 | Capacity: 18,439 |
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| Wigan | Huddersfield | Hull |
| JJB Stadium | Galpharm Stadium | KC Stadium |
| Capacity: 25,138 | Capacity: 24,500 | Capacity: 25,138 |
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Final
The Tri-Nations Final was played in Leeds.
| Leeds |
|---|
| Elland Road |
| Capacity: 37,890 |
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Results
Tournament matches
- Australia were without their captain Darren Lockyer for this match and the remainder of the tournament after he injured his foot at training.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Tournament standings
| Team | Played | Won | Drew | Lost | For | Against | Difference | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Rl | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 102 | 84 | +18 | 6 |
| Template:Rl | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 118 | 120 | −2 | 4 |
| Template:Rl | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 84 | 100 | −16 | 2 |
Final
| Australia | Position | New Zealand |
|---|---|---|
| Anthony Minichiello | FB | Brent Webb |
| Matt King | WG | Jake Webster |
| Mark Gasnier | CE | Paul Whatuira |
| Matt Cooper | CE | Clinton Toopi |
| Brent Tate | WG | Manu Vatuvei |
| Trent Barrett | FE | Nigel Vagana |
| Craig Gower | HB | Stacey Jones |
| Petero Civoniceva | PR | Paul Rauhihi |
| Danny Buderus (c) | HK | Motu Tony |
| Jason Ryles | PR | Ruben Wiki (c) |
| Luke O'Donnell | SR | David Kidwell |
| Craig Fitzgibbon | SR | Louis Anderson |
| Ben Kennedy | LK | Shontayne Hape |
| Craig Wing | Int | David Faiumu |
| Willie Mason | Int | Roy Asotasi |
| Mark O'Meley | Int | David Solomona |
| Steve Price | Int | Ali Lauiti'iti |
| Wayne Bennett | Coach | Brian McClennan |
The historic win by the Kiwis over an Australian 17 containing only 3 Queensland players and one player from the previous month's 2005 NRL grand final put an end to the Kangaroos' dominance in international rugby league. It was the first time Australia, hot favourites for the match, had failed to win a series or tournament since France defeated them in both Tests of the 1978 Kangaroo tour.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The win by New Zealand was the first time the Kiwis had beaten Australia in a test series or tournament (not including one-off test wins in 1971, 1987 and 1998) since 1952. Australian coach Wayne Bennett resigned from the national coaching post just over a week after the final.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
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Player statistics
Template:Col-begin Template:Col-2
| Top point scorers | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Team | T | G | FG | Pts | ||||
| 1 | Stacey Jones | Template:Rl | 0 | 21 | 0 | 42 | |||
| 2 | Craig Fitzgibbon | Template:Rl | 0 | 12 | 0 | 24 | |||
| 3 | Clinton Toopi | Template:Rl | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20 | |||
| Jake Webster | Template:Rl | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Matt Cooper | Template:Rl | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Top try scorers | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Team | T | |||||||
| 1 | Clinton Toopi | Template:Rl | 5 | ||||||
| Jake Webster | Template:Rl | ||||||||
| Matt Cooper | Template:Rl | ||||||||
| 2 | Brent Webb | Template:Rl | 4 | ||||||
| Mark Gasnier | Template:Rl | ||||||||
Non-series tests
During the series, Australia and New Zealand played additional Tests against France. This was the first time the two teams had met in a test match since Australia's 74–0 win in Béziers in the last game of the 1994 Kangaroo tour.
Template:Rugbybox For this match, Craig Gower was given the honour of captaining Australia for the first time.<ref>Annual Report 2005 Template:Webarchive – Australian Rugby League</ref>
Australia 44 (A Minichiello 2, T Waterhouse 2, M Cooper, S Prince, C Gower, W Mason tries; S Prince 6 goals) defeated France 12 (L Frayssinous, M Gresqueu tries; L Frayssinous 2 goals)
Other game
New Zealand played a midweek match against England "A" which did not count as a test match. Halftime was 12-all. Template:Rugbybox
See also
References
Further reading
External links
- Kiwis overcome critics to down Kangaroos in Tri-Nations opener – kangaroos.leagueunlimited.com
- 2005 Tri-nations final at trinations.rlfans.com
- 2005 Tri-nations at rlhalloffame.org.uk
- New Zealand Test teams 2005 at nzrl.co.nz
Template:Rugby League Tri-Nations Template:2005 in rugby league