# 1954 Great Britain Lions tour

The 1954 Great Britain Lions tour was a tour by the Great Britain national rugby league team of Australia and New Zealand which took place between May and August 1954. Captained by Dickie Williams, the tour involved a schedule of 32 games: 22 in Australia and 10 in New Zealand, with two three-match Test Series against both nations.
The tour began inauspiciously, with Great Britain losing four of their first seven matches, including the First Test against Australia in Sydney. Moving into the Queensland leg, the Lions' results improved, and they won all nine of their matches in the state. This included victory in the Second Test in Brisbane.
A common feature of many of the tour matches was rough play, punches being throw in and out of tackles. The July 10 match against New South Wales was abandoned by the referee seventeen minutes into the second half due to persistent brawling by the players.
One week after the abandoned game, Australia won the Third Test to claim the Ashes by a 2–1 margin.
Moving to New Zealand, Great Britain lost the Second Test, but recovered to win the Third Test and the series, by a 2–1 margin. The tour concluded with three matches in five days back in Australia at Sydney, Canberra and Maitland.
Despite being a British team – five of the squad were Welsh, two from Scotland and hooker Tom McKinney from Northern Ireland – the team played, and were often referred to by both the press at home and away, as England.

## Squad

This was the first Lions tour where the touring party travelled to Australia by air, instead of by ship.
* ↑ Age as given in the Rugby League News for the first match against New South Wales
* ↑ Other than the Test Matches, team lists for the tour matches in New Zealand not available to the author at the time of page creation.
* ↑ Tally excludes the match vs North Island, apart from Lewis Jones' one try and nine goals in that match.

## Australian leg
### 1st Test

* June 12
| Australia | 37–12 | Great Britain |
| Tries: 7 Ken McCaffery (2) Norm Provan Kel O'Shea Duncan Hall Noel Pidding Brian Carlson Goals: 8 Noel Pidding (8) | Program Report Database | Tries: 2 Nat Silcock Phil Jackson Goals: 3 Lewis Jones (3) |
* Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney Attendance: 65,885 Gate: AU£ 16,842 Referee: Darcy Lawler

### 2nd Test

* July 3
| Australia | 21–36 | Great Britain |
| Tries: 5 Brian Carlson (2) Norm Provan Duncan Hall Keith Holman Goals: 3 Noel Pidding (3) | Teams Report Database | Tries: 6 Billy Boston (2) Charlie Pawsey Dickie Williams Phil Jackson Gerry Helme Goals: 8 Lewis Jones (8) |
* Brisbane Cricket Ground, Brisbane Attendance: 47,800 Gate: AU£ 13,190 Referee: Darcy Lawler

### 3rd Test

* July 17
| Australia | 20–16 | Great Britain |
| Tries: 4 Alex Watson Harry Wells Noel Pidding Peter Diversi Goals: 4 Noel Pidding (4) | Program Report | Tries: 4 Dickie Williams (2) Ernie Ashcroft Dave Valentine Goals: 2 Lewis Jones (2) |
* Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney Attendance: 67,577 Gate: AU£ 17,717 Referee: Darcy Lawler

## New Zealand leg
### 1st Test

* July 24
| New Zealand | 7–27 | Great Britain |
| Tries: 1 John Bond Goals: 2 Jim Haig Des White | Teams Report Database | Tries: 7 Billy Boston (4) Ernie Ashcroft (2) Tommy Harris Goals: 3 Lewis Jones (3) |
* Carlaw Park, Auckland Attendance: 22,097 Referee: J. Griffin

### 2nd Test

* July 31
| New Zealand | 20–14 | Great Britain |
| Tries: 2 John Butterfield Frank Mulcare Goals: 7 Des White (7) | Database Report | Tries: 2 Terry O'Grady Jack Wilkinson Goals: 4 Lewis Jones (4) |
* Wingham Park, Greymouth Attendance: 4,240 Referee: M. Seagar

### 3rd Test

* August 14
| New Zealand | 6–12 | Great Britain |
| Tries: 0 Goals: 3 Des White (3) | Database Report | Tries: 2 Terry O'Grady Raymond Price Goals: 3 Lewis Jones (3) |
* Carlaw Park, Auckland Attendance: 6,186 Referee: Wally Wilkinson

## Statistics

Brian Carlson, Clive Churchill, Keith Holman, Ken Kearney, and Norm Provan all appeared in seven matches against Great Britain - in each instance three games for Australia, three for New South Wales and one for Sydney. The most tries scored against the Lions was six, by Brian Carlson. Keith Holman and Ken McCaffery each scored four tries. Noel Pidding scored the most points against the tourists, with 51 from three tries and 21 goals in five matches.
In the Test Series the leading scorers were Noel Pidding 36 (Australia) and Des White 22 (New Zealand). Lewis Jones scored the most points for the Lions against both opponents, 30 against Australia and 20 against New Zealand.
Billy Boston scored six tries in the six tests, including four against New Zealand. Dickie Williams scored three tries against Australia. Brian Carlson scored three tries in the Ashes Tests for Australia. No New Zealander scored more than a single try in their three Test series.

## Sources

| Acronym | Item | Years | Database App | Notes |
| Direct Online Access |||||
| RLN | Rugby League News | 1920-1973 | Trove | Match Program in Sydney, Team Lists, Team Photos, Articles |
| RLP | Rugby League Project | 1907–present | RLP Website | Test Match teams & scorers. |
| Sun | The Sun (Sydney) | 1910-1954 | Trove | Match Reports, Articles. |
| DT | The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) | 1931-1954 | Trove | Match Reports, Articles. |
| CM | The Courier-Mail | 1933-1954 | Trove | Match Reports, Articles. |
| - | Various Australian Regional Newspapers | up to 1954 | Trove | Match Reports, Given Names of Players |
| - | New Zealand Newspapers | up to 1950 | Papers Past | Match Reports. |
| Offline Resources |||||
| EECYB | E.E. Christensen's Official Rugby League Year Book | 1946-1978 | Copies at State Library of NSW | Teams, Point Scorers, Report. 1955 Yearbook covers the 1954 tour. |
| QRLG | Queensland Rugby League Gazette | 1950-1955 | Copies at State Library of Qld | Program for matches in Brisbane. Collection is predominantly of representative matches. |
| RRLG | Rockhampton Rugby League Gazette | 1951-1968 | Copies at State Library of Qld | Program for matches in Rockhampton. Collection includes club as well as Rockhampton and Central Queensland representative matches. |
| - | Ipswich Versus International Teams | 1913-1975 | Copies at SLQ & NLA | Match Report, Given Names & Club of Ipswich Players |
| - | The Bulimba Cup Era | 1925-1972 | Copies at SLQ & NLA | Clubs of Ipswich, Toowoomba and Brisbane players. This book includes Bulimba Cup match reports and team lists. |
| - | A History of Mackay Rugby League | 1919-2015 | Author's Website | Given Names & Club of Mackay Players |
| - | More Than The Foley Shield | 1908-2014 | Author's Website | Match report, team photos. Given Names & Club of North Queensland Players |