Blake Ferguson in full flight for the Kangaroos
This is the penultimate chapter in this series about the Kangaroos which Steve Ricketts compiled at the request of then Australian coach, Mal Meninga ahead of the 2024 Pacific Cup. The decade by decade look at our National Rugby League side was contained in a booklet which was presented to the players when they went into camp. There was even a homework section at the back.
CHAPTER 13
2010-2020
TRANS-TASMAN RIVALRY PEAKS
Australia won both World Cups contested in this decade. The Kangaroos beat New Zealand 34-2 in the final in Manchester in 2013 and England 6-0 in Brisbane in 2017. Tim Sheens was coach in 2013 and Mal Meninga in 2017.
The 2013 tournament saw Australia play in Ireland for the first time, beating the home nation 50-0 in Limerick. The 1967-68 Kangaroos had an exhibition match scheduled in Dublin, but an outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease saw the event cancelled. There were a host of players in the ’67-68 touring squad with Irish heritage, and it was hoped top be able to draw a big crowd based on names like Kelly, Gallagher, Lynch and Gleeson.
The Kangaroos’ first assignment of the new decade was a Test against New Zealand in Melbourne on May 7, 2010, with the Kangaroos’ only debutant St George Illawarra forward, Michael Weyman. It was the opening night of the Victorian capital’s $267 million AAMI Park, which was purpose built for the two rugby codes and soccer. Australia won an intense battle 12-8 with winger, Brett Morris from St George-Illawarra scoring two tries. Man of the Match was Broncos’ forward, Sam Thaiday.
The Kiwis extracted revenge in the end-of-season Four Nations tournament, defeating Australia 16-12 in the final at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium. It was a heart-breaking finish for the Kangaroos, with Lockyer playing his last Test in Brisbane, and centre, Brent Tate rupturing his anterior cruciate.
The other nations in the tournament were England and Papua New Guinea. Nate Myles and Tom Learoyd-Lahrs made their Test debuts in the 42-0 win over PNG at Parramatta. Second rower Luke Lewis scored two tries in a 34-14 win over England in Melbourne, and then Brett Morris grabbed a double in the other preliminary round win over the Kiwis at Eden Park, Auckland in front of a crowd of 44,324, a match in which forwards, Matt Scott and Dean Young made their Kangaroo debuts.
Sections of the Eden Park crowd booed during the playing of Advance Australia Fair, and later hurled plastic drink bottles onto the field. The Australians were fired up, and to win at the spiritual home of the All Blacks augured well for the final.
The Suncorp Stadium clash was intense from start to finish, with referee, Tony Archer having to deal with a number of blow-ups, Kiwi skipper, Benji Marshall proving the difference with his heavy involvement in all three Kiwi tries. Australia led 12-10 with seven minutes left, but the Kiwis poured on the pressure, with Nathan Fine scoring the winning try.
Trans-Tasman rivalry had last reached such a peak in the early 1950s when the Kiwis fielded teams which regularly beat the Kangaroos. The Kiwis of the Benji Marshall era had also won the 2005 Tri-Nations in the UK, and the 2008 Centenary World Cup in Australia in 2008.
LOCKYER SAYS FAREWELL
Legendary Kangaroos’ skipper, Darren Lockyer played his last Test on home soil in Newcastle, leading Australia to a 42-6 win on October 16, 2011, with Akuila Uate, Keith Galloway and Tony Williams making their international debuts.
Uate, who played for the Newcastle Knights, scored two tries. Kiwi prop, Russell Packer was a marked man after he took out Lockyer with a late elbow to the head in the opening minutes. English referee, Phil Bentham put Packer on report, but most in the record crowd of 32,890 felt he should have been sent off. There were fears that Lockyer, playing his first game after fracturing his cheek bone in his final game for the Broncos, had suffered further damage, but he carried on and played a starring role in the victory.
Two weeks later the Trans-Tasman foes met again in Warrington, as England hosted a Four Nations tournament. The Kangaroos retained their composure in the face of questionable tackles by several Kiwis, and emerged 26-12 victors.
The Kangaroos defeated England 36-20 in the next match, another fiery contest, this one at London’s famous Wembley Stadium. Australian fullback, Billy Slater put his body on the line tackling try bound winger, Ryan Hall, and broke his collarbone in the process.
Australia led only 12-8 at halftime, but with Lockyer and Cooper Cronk calling the shots, had too much skill for their rivals in the second 40 minutes. Australia was guaranteed a place in the final, but went about their work with cool professionalism in their final preliminary round match against Wales in Wrexham, winning 56-14, with Cronk scoring three tries. Manly-Warringah’s future Queensland skipper, Daly Cherry Evans made his Test debut off the bench for the Kangaroos.
Darius Boyd was outstanding at fullback in what was a dress rehearsal for the final, given Slater’s injury. England qualified for the final thanks to a 28-6 win over the Kiwis in Hull
Lockyer’s teammates defied illness, injury and a brave England team to send the Roma product into retirement on the highest possible note, with a 30-8 win in the final at Elland Road, Leeds. A gastric outbreak hit the Australian camp 24 hours before kick-off, while Thurston and Matt Scott carried groin injuries into the game. Thurston ignored the pain to be named man of the match, after playing a big part in two crucial tries; scoring one himself and landing five goals.
The perfect parting gift for 34-year-old Lockyer was a try, which featured all the brilliance we expect from one of Queensland’s favourite sons. Lockyer kicked deliberately for a rebound off the square post pad, and then collected the ball, to score.
“We just fell short last year (against the Kiwis) and it is nice to go home with a win under our belts,” he said. “It’s a relief, but there’s a lot of satisfaction too.”
Australia played two Tests against the Kiwis in 2012, one in Townsville and the other in Auckland, with the Kangaroos victorious on both occasions. The 2012 season saw Broncos’ Test winger, Jharal Yow Yeh’s career come to a tragic end after he suffered a compound fracture of the ankle in Perth. Yow Yeh, only 22 at the time, had played three Tests, and chances are he would have finished his career with at least another 20 Tests to his credit.
WORLD CUP SUCCESS
The Kiwis were on the receiving end of Australian power and skill in the final of the 2013 World Cup at Old Trafford, Manchester, in front of a crowd of 74,468, with Thurston Man of the Match after he kicked seven goals from seven shots and dominated in attack. The Kiwis never really threatened the Kangaroos and may have played their final a week earlier when they beat England in the dying minutes of a semi-final at Wembley.
The Kangaroos had thrashed Fiji 64-0 in their semi of a Wembley double header with Jarryd Hayne scoring three tries against his heritage country and Thurston landing 10 goals. Billy Slater and Brett Morris each grabbed a double in the Final.
Hooker, Cameron Smith, who succeeded Lockyer as National Skipper, said the victory had erased some of the disappointment from the Kangaroos’ loss to New Zealand in the 2008 Centenary World Cup final in Brisbane. The Final was Smith’s 37th Test and he went on to play another 19 Tests before retiring from International football in 2017.
“I am in a very privileged position as captain of the Kangaroos,” he said at the time.
In the preliminary games of the 2013 World Cup the Australians beat England 28-20 in Cardiff, Wales; Fiji 34-2 at St Helens and Ireland 50-0 in Limerick. Australia accounted for the USA 62-0 in Wrexham, Wales in the quarters, with current Australian Players’ Association boss, Clint Newton playing for the Tomahawks.
Back in April, the Kangaroos had beaten the Kiwis 32-12 in Canberra, a match which marked the 100th anniversary of Canberra being named the Nation’s Capital.
Australia’s 2013 backline was one of the strongest ever fielded, featuring six members of the Queensland side that had dominated Origin for seven years under the coaching of Mal Meninga. Those players were Billy Slater, Darius Boyd, Greg Inglis, Justin Hodges, Johnathan Thurston and Cooper Cronk. The odd man out was winger, Brett Morris. Making Australia’s attack even more deadly was the fact hooker and skipper, Cameron Smith; halfback, Cronk and fullback, Slater all played club football for Melbourne Storm, and knew each other’s play backwards.
The Kangaroos’ first International engagement in 2014 was a mid-year Test against New Zealand in Sydney, and the underdog Kiwis gave the home side a fright, leading 18-12 at halftime. It took Australia until the 52nd minute to draw level when Billy Slater created space for Brett Morris to score his second try. Tries by Greg Inglis and Cooper Cronk put the result beyond doubt.
Australia hosted a Four Nations tournament at the end of the season with the Kangaroos, England, New Zealand and Samoa the competing teams.
Australia fielded a team which looked vastly different to the one which played in May, largely because of injuries. But it was felt the Kangaroos still had the depth to withstand any challenge. It was back to the drawing board after the Kiwis won 30-12 in front of a crowd of 47,813 in Brisbane in the Kangaroos’ first engagement of the tournament.
A week later the Kangaroos had a fortunate escape against England in Melbourne, winning 16-12, in a match which saw the debut of inter-change specialist, Ben Hunt. The English camp were furious at being denied what they believed to be a fair try at the death. When Australia belted Samoa 44-18 in Wollongong, it assured the Kangaroos a place in the final against the Kiwis.
New Zealand showed their win in Brisbane was no fluke, defeating Australia 22-18 in Wellington. It was the first time the Kiwis had won a major tournament at home, although they had previously won Test series. Australia’s inexperience showed at times during the final. Seven players made their debuts for the Kangaroos during the tournament.
In 2015 there was just the one Test, and it marked the Centenary of the Anzac landing at Gallipoli. The Kiwis cemented their position as the number one team in the world with a 26-12 win in Brisbane.
Australian coach, Tim Sheens was at a loss to explain what went wrong.
“I have no explanation for the performance,” he said. “We were beaten right across the park”,
BIG MAL TAKES THE REINS
Mal Meninga took over as National Coach in 2016, after taking Queensland to nine State of Origin series wins in 10 years. Mal’s first away assignment was a Test against the Kiwis in Newcastle in May and the Kangaroos broke New Zealand’s three game winning streak courtesy of a 16-0 result. But the performance by what was seen as an ageing Australian line-up, was less than convincing, particularly as the Kiwis were missing a number of key men.
At least, that was the view of a number of critics.
Mal saw things differently.
“That was a real Test match. Test football is rugged; its physical and sometimes it’s dour,” he said.
There were some newcomers in the Australian line-up – Semi Radradra, Blake Ferguson, Josh McGuire and Michael Morgan. Radradra was born and raised in Fiji and was chosen under residency rules, something the English, French and New Zealand selectors had exploited for quite a few years, just as their rugby union ‘cousins’ had done, with the likes of Lesley Vainikolo playing for the English union side; Springbok Bernard Le Roux for France and Australian halfback, Des Connor for the All Blacks.
But it was something that was ‘foreign’ to the Australian Rugby League approach – excuse the pun. Radradra was not eligible for State of Origin selection, so he became the first player in over a century to qualify to play for Australia, but be ineligible for inter-state football. In the early years of rugby league in this country, Kangaroo outfits sometimes included a guest Kiwi, and the teams were promoted as Australasian selections. But the Kangaroo emblem was still used.
There was no Radradra when the Kangaroos played their first ever Test in Perth at the end of the 2016 season, with Valentine Holmes the new winger. Holmes scored a try on debut, while centre, Greg Inglis scored twice in a 26-6 win. The Kangaroos had played in Perth before – in 1982, on their way to Britain and France – but that was against a Western Australian team. British and French touring teams had also played in Perth.
Two weeks after the 2016 Perth match, the Kangaroos were playing Scotland in Hull in a Round 1 Four Nations fixture. Australia won 54-12 against a Scots side which included Australian, Lachlan Coote at fullback, chosen under the grandparent rule. Australia defeated New Zealand 14-8 in Coventry, and then accounted for the old foe, England, 36-18 at the Olympic Stadium in London before a crowd of 35,569, an illustration of how much rugby league had become accepted in England’s south, after just 14,000 attended the first post-war Anglo-Australian Test played in London – in 1963.
England were coached by Australian, Wayne Bennett, who had coached Mal Meninga in his formative years at Brisbane Souths, and then for a brief time in Canberra. Australia’s win was tempered by the fact Sam Thaiday suffered a fracture cheekbone, from a head clash with James Graham. Cooper Cronk was Man of the Match.
So the final saw Australia and New Zealand meeting for the fourth time in 2016, and Mal Meninga’s magic touch, so evident in the State of Origin arena, was transferred to international football, with Australia winning 34-8 at the home of Liverpool FC, Anfield. Fullback, Darius Boyd was man of the match, while centre, Josh Dugan scored two tries in front a crowd of 40,042, most of them cheering against the Kangaroos.
The win saw Australia return to top spot on the world rankings, a position which had been held by the Kiwis
WORLD CUP DOWN UNDER
Australia hosted to the World Cup in 2017 and the Kangaroos had a comprehensive 18-4 win over the Bennett coached England in the opening game in Melbourne, but it was a much tougher contest than the scoreline suggests, with England scoring first, and maintaining a physical approach. Cooper Cronk, in particular, was heavily targeted.
In other pool games Australia accounted for France 52-6 in Canberra and Lebanon 34-0 in Sydney. Melbourne star, Cameron Munster scored two tries on debut against the French, and then grabbed another two tries against the Cedars.
Darwin was the scene of Australia’s quarter final match against Samoa and Kangaroos’ winger, Valentine Holmes rewrote Australian Test and World Cup history when he scored five tries in the 46-0 win. Then 22, Holmes became the first player to score five tries in a Test. The Kangaroos needed a tough game, but they didn’t get one in the semi-finals, belting Fiji 54-6 in Brisbane with Holmes going one better this time and scoring six tries. Across the ditch in Auckland, the English had to battle all the way for a 20-18 win over Tonga.
The Kangaroos knew they were in for a Battle Royal against the old enemy, and weren’t disappointed, with Englishmen standing tall on the biggest stage, repeatedly turning away the Australian challenges. Australia led 6-0 at halftime, thanks to a try to Boyd Cordner, and that was the score at the end. England had their chances, the best of them when centre, Kallum Watkins broke clear in the 65th minute, only to stumble after a desperate ankle tap by Dugan.
Mal Meninga, who maintained a perfect record after two seasons in charge of the Kangaroos, became the first person to captain and coach World Cup winning teams. He was Australia’s skipper in their narrow win over Great Britain at Wembley in 1992.
“It was like an old fashioned Test match,” Mal said of the 2017 clash.
The result was the perfect way for Australian skipper, Cameron Smith and halfback, Cooper Cronk to bow out of rep footy. Smith had captained Australia 33 times, second only to Darren Lockyer (38). Cronk surpassed Immortal, Clive Churchill to move into the top 10 of all time Test appearances, with 38, equal with Johnathan Thurston. The final also was fullback, Billy Slater’s farewell to Test football.
Smith had also captained Australia to a 30-12 ANZAC Test win over the Kiwis in Canberra, with second rower, Matt Gillett being awarded the Charles Savory Medal as Man of the Match on that occasion, after a tireless performance, which featured 46 tackles and several clean breaks.
Meninga ensured the Kangaroos weren’t lacking motivation before the game, with a big build-up around captain, Cameron Smith’s 50th Test appearance. Meninga flew Smith’s parents; his wife and children to attend a special presentation with Test record-holder, Darren Lockyer before the game. At the end of the season Smith was named winner of the 2017 Golden Boot award.
PRIDE DENTED
In 2018 the Kangaroos fielded a new look side for the end-of-year Tests against New Zealand and Tonga, both games played at Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium. Taree product, Boyd Cordner was named captain, and the debutants were backs, James Tedesco, Latrell Mitchel and Luke Keary. Another debutant, following the retirement of Cameron Smith, was South Sydney hooker, Damien Cook.
The Kiwis beat Australia in the first game, scoring five tries to four, and dominating for most of the 80 minutes. It was New Zealand’s first win over Australia since 2015.
Meninga lifted his men for the game against Tonga the following weekend, with the Australians defying a star studded pack, full of NRL experience. The other force the Kangaroos had to overcome was the crowd of 26,214, double the size of the attendance for the match against the Kiwis. The noise was like thunder, but the Australians stood tall, scoring six tries to three, with Tom Trbojevic and Valentine Holmes each grabbing a double
The Kangaroos’ last Test of the decade, and the last before the ‘Covid era’, was a 16-12 loss to Tonga in the 2019 Oceania Cup at Eden Park in Auckland, after Australia led 12-6 at halftime. Eden Park was a sea of red and white and the parochial crowd went wild when referee, Gerard Sutton blew fulltime. Meninga said the Kangaroos were going through a transition stage, with a lot of younger players coming through. Cameron Murray made his debut in this Test.
Writing in the official Rugby League Annual, historian, David Middleton said International football had last seen such a game changing moment in 1951, when France defeated Australia 2-1 in the Test series, on their first tour to the Southern Hemisphere. That tour was the high water mark of French rugby league with the team returning to Marseilles to a heroes’ welcome and Puig Aubert was acclaimed Sportsman of the Year, an honour usually won by cyclists, soccer players or boxers.
Australia had beaten New Zealand 26-4 in the other Oceania Cup match, played in Wollongong. Josh Addo-Carr, Jack Wighton, Nick Cotric, Payne Haas and Paul Vaughan made their debuts in this Test. Damien Cook, who grew up at nearby Helensburgh, was man of the match.
During this decade the Kangaroos had taken International football further afield than the traditional host cities of Sydney and Brisbane – to venues in Melbourne, Perth, Canberra, Townsville and Wollongong, as well as on the Gold Coast. It was essential to take the green and gold to the people, given the big tours by British, French and Kiwi teams were now a thing of past. In the days before television, those touring sides kept rugby league foremost in the minds of people in regional centres, by playing matches from Cairns to Wagga; from Mt Isa to Tamworth and many places in-between.
It was international football, more than anything else, which kept rugby league top of the tree as the winter sport in New South Wales and Queensland in the period 1908 until 1980, when State of Origin began. For a brief time in the 1990s, rugby league’s Kangaroos could boast a bigger travelling army of supporters than any other national sporting team.
With the rapid rise of the Pacific Nations and consistently strong performances from England and New Zealand, the 2020s shaped as a challenging and exciting era for the Kangaroos.
No-one could have predicted that everything would be turned upside down by a deadly virus from China.
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