NOVEMBER 2017
The hopes of those trying to promote rugby league in Wales were dealt a savage blow when the Welsh side was thrashed 72-6 by Fiji, in Townsville during the 2017 World Cup in Australia.
Wales was only ever strong in rugby league when teams contained former rugby union internationals, of which there were plenty, in the era before the 15-man game went professional. There have been several books written about Welsh stars, ‘Gone North’, from the ‘The Valleys’, to play rugby league.
It was a shock to the system for many of those Welsh stars, going from the amateur ways of union, to the dog-eat-dog world of rugby league in England’s North, where wages from football could mean the difference between ‘existing’, and enjoying a reasonable lifestyle.
Scott Gibbs, for instance, turned up for pre-season training at St Helens in the summer of 1994, and played his first game of league in a ‘friendly’ (a trial) against Widnes. There is no such thing as a friendly in rugby league, especially against Widnes.
“You fucking Welsh bastard, why don’t you fuck off home,” one of the formidable Hulme brothers said to Gibbs, the first time Gibbs touched the ball. In his autobiography, ‘Getting Physical’, Gibbs said it was the first time he had experienced ‘trash talking’.
“I learned very early on, you had to give as good as you get, in rugby league,” he wrote. “I’d never been so fatigued after matches in my whole career. It was very, very tough. Even now, when I meet anyone who plays rugby league at any level, I have the utmost respect for them. The players deserve all the rewards they get, and more, because it’s such a wonderful, demanding sport. You’ll never hear me say a bad word about the game. I love it.’
Gibbs’ bio came out after he had returned to union, when it became professional.
Welsh teams reached the semi-finals of the 1995 and 2000 Rugby League World Cups, with the 1995 side containing a number of former union box office attractions, among them Gibbs, Johnathan Davies, David Young and Allan Bateman.
The 2000 side, captained by Iestyn Harris, did remarkably well, given they had only a handful of what might be termed top flight players, three of them – John Devereux, Paul Moriarty and Jason Critchley – given leave of absence by their union clubs (Bridgend, Swansea and Leicester) to help out the Welsh league side.
The 2017 side, coached by John Kear, was made up of almost entirely of players from English clubs. The exceptions were South Wales’ players, Andrew Gay and Christiaan Roets; Matt Seamark (Wynnum-Manly) and Josh Ralph (Tweed Heads).
Fiji scored 14 tries to one in Townsville in 2017, with Melbourne Storm winger, Suliasi Vunivalu crossing three times, while five eighth, Jarryd Hayne had a hand in many of the tries, as well as scoring one himself. That try took Hayne’s World Cup tally to 15, surpassing the record he shared with Australia’s Bob Fulton and Billy Slater.
Equally humiliating for another country with a great tradition in both rugby codes, was France’s 52-6 loss to Australia in Perth, with Australian second rower, Wade Graham scoring four tries, only the second Australian forward to do so. Gorden Tallis scored four against Papua New Guinea in 2000.
It was Australian skipper, Cameron Smith’s 36th consecutive Test, a milestone which saw him eclipse the record of the ‘Immortal’, Clive Churchill who played 35 straight between 1947 and 1955.
Australia led ‘only’ 20-6 at halftime. France’s try was scored by Mark Kheiralla, from Toulouse Olympique, who played one NRL game for the Roosters in 2011.
Halfback, Shaun Johnson became the highest points scorer in New Zealand Test history, as the Kiwis belted Scotland 74-6 in Christchurch. Needing 16 points to overtake the mark of former fullback, Matthew Ridge, which had stood at 168 points for almost 20 years, Johnson scored a try and kicked nine goals, to move to 175. The Kiwis were out for revenge, after they were held to an 18-all draw by the Scots in the UK the previous year, during the Four Nations. It wasn’t the Kiwis biggest ever win. They beat Tonga 74-0 in 1999.
The Tongan team of 2017 was a different proposition, emerging 32-18 winners over bitter rivals, Samoa in Hamilton, New Zealand in front of a crowd of 18,156, with 400,000 tuning in on one of (Australian) Channel 7’s secondary channels, often a ratings graveyard for major sporting events.
A biting allegation marred England’s 29-10 win over Lebanon in Sydney. The allegation came from Lebanon skipper, Robbie Farah, and was aimed at Huddersfield winger, Jermaine MacGillvary. A tribunal took only three minutes to find MacGillvary not guilty.
In football terms, the highlight of the game was a 40 metre try scored by English prop, Tom Burgess, who ran onto a pass from fellow prop, James Graham.
Papua New Guinea were lucky to escape with a 14-6 win over Ireland in Port Moresby in an error riddled game. The Irish defended heroically against the hot favourites, with Irish coach, Mark Aston immensely proud of his men. Man of the match was PNG winger, Garry Lo from Sheffield Eagles, who opened the scoring with a try in which he scattered a host of defenders.
The Wales match, which starts this ‘Flashback’, was part of a double header in Townsville on November 5, with Italy thrashing the USA 46-0 in the early encounter, Man of the Match honours going to Italy’s Joe Tramontana from Canterbury/Bankstown.
James Tedesco, who captained Australia in the 2022 tournament in the UK, made a good fist of playing five eighth, the position he was thrust into following the withdrawal of veteran Terry Campese (who played ‘bush’ football that year for Queanbeyan Blues), and the loss of Jack Johns to injury. Tedesco and Tramontana scored two tries reach.
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