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Kangaroo
Tour: 1956-1957
Sean Fagan of RL1908.com
 Australia
again took the Ashes back when the Lions toured in 1954, and headed
for England confident they could retain them.
Captained
by Ken Kearney, this was the first Australian team to fly to England
for an Ashes series.
The
Tests opened in France in a reversal of previous tour scheduling.
Holman took revenge for the 1952/53 Kangaroos when he delivered
one of the best games of his career to see Australia win by 15-8.
It
was then back to England for the series against Britain, before
the Kangaroos would return to France for the remaining Tests.
Britain easily won the First Test by 21-10 with a late Australia
try giving the impression the game was tightly fought - it wasn't.
A week before the 2nd Test and the Kangaroos plummeted to depths
never seen on any preceding tour when they were beaten 44-2 by St
Helens. Ten of the Australians beaten at Knowlsey Road lined up
in the 2nd Test and the Kangaroos were very much outsiders to win.
For
more than the opening quarter of the game Britain applied all the
pressure and clearly had Australia's measure. However, they failed
to score any points and the mood quickly switched when Keith Holman
snared an intercept try to put the Kangaroos in front.
Early
in the 2nd half Australia's Bobby Banks took a low Holman pass 75m
from the British line - he penetrated their defence and scored a
remarkable individual try. Brian Davies and Roy Bull then got tries
as Australia won by 22-9.
Injuries
though hit the tourists before the 3rd Test and the Kangaroos mounted
no serious challenge losing by 19-0.
Australia
then returned to France, winning the series by taking the Second
Test by 10-6.
Tour
Details:
1956/57
v Great Britain & France
GREAT
BRITAIN
1st Test - 17 November : lost 10-21 / Central Park, Wigan (22,473)
2nd
Test - 1 December : won 22-9 / Odsal Stadium, Bradford (23,334)
3rd Test - 15 December : lost 0-19 / Station Road, Swinton (13,515)
RECORD:
P: 19 W: 10 L: 9 FOR: 335 AGST: 296
TEST SERIES: Lost 1-2
AGGREGATE
ATTENDANCE: 225,933
v
Liverpool City W 40-12 4,712 Liverpool
v Leeds L 13-18 24,459 Leeds
v Hull XIII W 37-14 17,172 Hull
v Barrow W 25-11 9,888 Barrow
v Whitehaven L 11-14 10,840 Whitehaven
v Bradford Northern W 23-11 2,743 Bradford
v Warrington L 17-21 15,613 Warrington
v English League XIII W 19-15 7,811 Leigh
v York W 20-18 6,842 York
v Oldham L 2-21 8,458 Oldham
v Huddersfield W 20-10 12,127 Huddersfield
v GREAT BRITAIN L 10-21 22,473 Central Park, Wigan
v Hunslet W 27-11 4,451 Hunslet
v St Helens L 2-44 15,579 St Helens
v GREAT BRITAIN W 22-9 23,334 Odsal Stadium, Bradford
v Halifax L 3-6 2,254 Halifax
v Wigan W 32-4 15,854 Wigan
v Wakefield Trinity L 12-17 3,381 Wakefield
v GREAT BRITAIN L 0-19 13,515 Station Road, Swinton
FRANCE
1st Test : won 15-8 /
Paris
(10,789)
2nd
Test : won 10-6 / Bordeaux (11,379)
3rd Test : won 25-21 / Lyons (5,743)
RECORD:
P: 9 W: 8 D: 1 L: 0 FOR: 207 AGST: 110
TEST SERIES: Won 3-0
AGGREGATE
ATTENDANCE: 54,245
v FRANCE W 15-8 10,789 Paris
v FRANCE W 10-6 11,379 Bordeaux
v FRANCE W 25-21 5,743 Lyons
v French Army D 11-11 3,153 Limoges
v Albi W 25-20 3,789 Albi
v Carcassonne W 26-12 3,493 Carcassonne
v Catalan W 20-14 7,900 Perpignan
v Avignon W 38-11 5,061 Avignon
v Marseilles W 37-7 2,938 Marseilles
EASTERN
SUBURBS 0
SOUTH SYDNEY 4 (Clive
Churchill,
Ian Moir, Bernie Purcell, Ernie Hammerton)
NORTH SYDNEY 0
NEWTOWN 2
(Gordon Clifford, Dick Poole)
BALMAIN
0
WESTERN SUBURBS 2
(Keith Holman, Kel O'Shea)
ST GEORGE 4
(Ken Kearney Capt., Kevin O'Brien, Bryan Orrock, Norm Provan)
CANTERBURY 0
MANLY 1 (Roy Bull)
PARRAMATTA 1
(Ian Johnston)
QUEENSLAND 10
(Bob Banks, Cyril Connell, Brian Davies, Don Furner, Des McGovern,
Tom Payne, Denis Flannery, Ian Doyle, Tom Tyquin, Alex Watson)
NSW COUNTRY 2
(Don Adams, Bill Marsh)
Copyright
© 2006 - Sean Fagan. All rights reserved - the article above may
not be reproduced (in full or part) in any form without written
permission.
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