# 1998 Great Britain Women's Rugby League Tour of New Zealand

The Great Britain Women's Rugby League tour of New Zealand in 1998 was the first such visit by a female British or English Rugby League team, and their second tour after a 1996 visit to Australia. Six matches were played during the three-week tour, including three Test Matches. For the host nation, New Zealand, this tour followed on from a visit by the Australian women's rugby league team during the previous year, 1997.
Great Britain won the three tour matches but lost each of the three Test Matches by large margins, registering a single try and two goals in the series.

## Team Leadership

The team was coached by Jackie Sheldon. Roland Davis was tour manager and Lisa McCandless was team manager. The team was captained by Lisa McIntosh with vice-captain Liz Kitchen. Paula Clark served as the team's physiotherapist.

## Squad

A photo of the 1998 touring team is included with the Gilmour interview on the Women in Rugby League website.
Point scorers are known for five of the six matches, excluding the first tour match against New Zealand Māori. Joanne Hewson scored a try against Auckland, and another try in the 1st Test. Joanna Will scored two tries in the match against Canterbury.
The Jumper Number column shows the order players were listed in the team named for the 2nd Test, which appeared in a preview article in the Christchurch newspaper, The Press.

## Results

* Sunday, August 16
| New Zealand Māori | 4–32 | Great Britain |
| | Result | |
* Waitakere Stadium, Auckland Referee: John McEwan
* Wednesday, August 19
| Auckland | 18–20 | Great Britain |
| Tries: 3 Stacey O'Carroll Ana Rewha Marianne Hemara Goals: 3 Angela Searancke 3 | HT 10-8 Report | Tries: 4 Teressa Bruce Vicky Studd Joanne Hewson Brenda Dobek Goals: 2 Brenda Dobek 2 |
* Carlaw Park, Auckland Referee: Arthur Clarke
A 'spectacular' try to Brenda Dobek in the closing minutes won the match for Great Britain, against an Auckland side that were missing their national team representatives.

### 1st Test

* Sunday, August 23
| New Zealand | 28–6 | Great Britain |
| Tries: 5 Trish Hina 2 Leah Witehira Germaine Wiki Sara White Goals: 4 Zavana Aranga 4 | HT 18-6 Report | Tries: 1 Joanne Hewson Goals: 1 Brenda Dobek |
* Puketawhero Park, Rotorua Referee: Derek Horne
Playing a more physical game, to dominate possession and territory, New Zealand scored three converted tries in the first 30 minutes. A slick switch pass by Debbie Chase sent Trish Hina in for the opener. Leah Witehira found a gap for the second and Germaine Wiki broke through tackles for the third try.
   Just as the game was looking to break wide open for New Zealand, Great Britain wing Joanne "Flo-Jo" Hewson showed why she is rated the most dangerous Lioness attacker as she danced around her marker and left the cover defence in her wake.
Both teams displayed improved defence in the second half, with Great Britain 'tackling ferociously' on their own line. Capitalising on sustain pressure, Trish Hina scored her second try after 15 minutes. In an 80-metre run, winger Sara White fended off two defenders and outsprinted others for an 80th minute try.
* Wednesday, August 26 7.30pm
| Canterbury | 0–20 | Great Britain |
| Tries: nil Goals: nil | HT 0-16 Report | Tries: 4 Joanna Will 2 Kirsty Robinson Jill Adams Goals: 2 Karen Burrows 2 |
* Rugby League Park, Christchurch Referee: Kevin Kirner Player of the Match: Joanna Will (GB), Mary Brennan (Cant)
The Canterbury team included a mother & daughter pairing, second rower Mary Brennan, aged 41, and centre Mereana Brennan, aged 17. Other players to feature for Canterbury included loose forward Vicki Blair, Kylie O'Loughlin, Melany Taniora-Green and Vicki Logopati. They were coached Jack Tauwhare.

### 2nd Test

* Saturday, August 29 2.30pm
| New Zealand | 44–0 | Great Britain |
| Tries: 8 Leah Witehira 2 Trish Hina 2 Rachel White Germaine Wiki Nadene Conlon Tasha Davie Goals: 6 Zavana Aranga 6 | HT 14-0 Report | Tries: nil Goals: nil |
* Rugby League Park, Christchurch Referee: Gary Baxter
   The Kiwi Ferns encountered strong opposition for 30 minutes on Saturday. Their sole try had come from scrum-half Leah Witehira robbing a rival of the ball in a one-on-one tackle and scampering 25m to score, while only desperate cover defence had prevented Britain scoring on both wings.
Leah Witehira collected her own grubber kick to score the second try, then gave the last pass to Trish Hina for the third and final first half try. The Kiwi Ferns added five tries in the second half.

### 3rd Test

* Friday, September 4 7:30pm
| New Zealand | 38–2 | Great Britain |
| Tries: 7 Zavana Aranga 2 Sara White 2 Leah Witehira Audrey Thompson Michelle Driscoll Goals: 5 Zavana Aranga 5 | HT 30-0 Reports | Tries: nil Goals: 1 Brenda Dobek |
* Carlaw Park, Auckland Referee: Julia Lee Player of the Match: Player of the Series: Luisa Avaiki
New Zealand dominated the first half, obtaining a 30 to nil lead at the break.
   I'm more than happy with the way the ladies have applied what they've learnt over the last two and a half weeks. They played very good football on Friday and put the Poms under a lot of pressure in the first half.

## New Zealand Team

The New Zealand Rugby League Annual '98 included a three-page report, including four photos. The report lists 17 players in the New Zealand team. It is not clear whether each of the 17 played in all three Test Matches. The 17 listed do match the teams named in preview articles for the series and 2nd Test.

## Sources

A physical copy of the New Zealand Rugby League Annual '98 is available at the National Library of New Zealand. British and New Zealand Newspapers available via eResources such as ProQuest and Newsbank.