# 1904 British Lions tour to Australia and New Zealand

The 1904 British Isles tour to New Zealand and Australia was the sixth tour by a British Isles rugby union team and the third to New Zealand or Australia. It is retrospectively classed as one of the British Lions tours, as the Lions naming convention was not adopted until 1950.
Led by Scotland captain David Bedell-Sivright and managed by Arthur O'Brien the tour included 19 matches, 14 in Australia and 5 in New Zealand. Four of the fixtures were test matches – three against Australia and one against the New Zealand All Blacks. The Lions won all three Australian tests but lost the All Blacks' game.
This was the first time that a British team played both Australia and New Zealand in the same tour. It was also the last series until 1989 in which Australian matches were the major component; in between the only Australian fixtures were those appended onto a longer New Zealand tour. The team's captain, Bedell-Sivright, a veteran of the 1903 tour of South Africa, was requested to lead the team by England's Rugby Football Union. Bedell-Sivright broke his leg in the opening match of the New Zealand leg of the tour and Teddy Morgan took over the captaincy.
The uniforms worn by the Lions remained the same than previous tours, blue used in thick hoops and the red and white in thin bands.

## Touring party

* Manager: Arthur O'Brien

## Results

Complete list of matches played by the British Lions:
Test matches
| Match | Date | Opponent | Location | Result | Score |
| Match 1 | 18 June | NSW Waratahs | Sydney, Australia | Won | 27–0 |
| Match 2 | 22 June | Western District Combined | Bathurst, Australia | Won | 21–6 |
| Match 3 | 25 June | NSW Waratahs | Sydney, Australia | Won | 29–6 |
| Match 4 | 29 June | Metropolitan Union | Sydney, Australia | Won | 19–6 |
| Match 5 | 2 July | Australia | Sydney, Australia | Won | 17–0 |
| Match 6 | 6 July | Northern Districts | Newcastle, Australia | Won | 17–3 |
| Match 7 | 9 July | Queensland Reds | Brisbane, Australia | Won | 24–5 |
| Match 8 | 13 July | Metropolitan Union | Brisbane, Australia | Won | 17–3 |
| Match 9 | 16 July | Queensland Reds | Brisbane, Australia | Won | 18–7 |
| Match 10 | 20 July | Toowoomba | Toowoomba, Australia | Won | 12–3 |
| Match 11 | 23 July | Australia | Brisbane, Australia | Won | 17–3 |
| Match 12 | 27 July | New England | Armidale, Australia | Won | 26–9 |
| Match 13 | 30 July | Australia | Sydney, Australia | Won | 16–0 |
| Match 14 | 6 August | Canterbury / West Coast RU | Christchurch, New Zealand | Won | 5–3 |
| Match 15 | 10 August | Otago / Southland RU | Dunedin, New Zealand | Won | 14–8 |
| Match 16 | 13 August | New Zealand | Wellington, New Zealand | Lost | 3–9 |
| Match 17 | 17 August | Taranaki / Wanganui / Manawatu RU | New Plymouth, New Zealand | Drew | 0–0 |
| Match 18 | 20 August | Auckland RU | Auckland, New Zealand | Lost | 0–13 |
| Match 19 | 31 August | NSW Waratahs | Sydney, Australia | Won | 5–0 |
Summary :
| Played in | Matches | Won | Lost | Drawn | Points for | Points against |
| Australia | 14 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 265 | 51 |
| New Zealand | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 22 | 33 |
| Total | 17 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 287 | 84 |

## Test details
### Australia 1st Test

* 2 July
| Australia | 0–17 | British Isles |
| | | Try: Bush Llewellyn Con: Harding O'Brien drop: Bush |
* Sydney Cricket Ground Attendance: 34,000 Referee: Tom Pauling
Team details :
| Australia | British Isles |

### Australia 2nd Test

* 23 July
| Australia | 3–17 | British Isles |
| Try: Burdon | | Try: Bush Llewellyn O'Brien Goal: Bush |
* Exhibition Ground, Brisbane Attendance: 15,000 Referee: W.H Beattie
Team details :
| Australia | British Isles |

### Australia 3rd Test

* 30 July
| Australia | 0–16 | British Isles |
| | | Try: Gabe, Llewellyn Morgan, Swannell Con: Bush, O'Brien |
* Sydney Cricket Ground Attendance: 24,000 Referee: Tom Pauling
* Team details
* Australia: Charlie Redwood, Fred Nicholson, Frank Futter, Stan Wickham (c), Doug McLean, Snr., Lew Evans, Francis Finley, Jack Meibusch, Allen Oxlade, Billy Richards, Blue Dixon, Denis Lutge, Jim White, Harold Judd, Patrick Walsh
* British Isles: AB O'Brien, Willie Llewellyn, Rhys Gabe, Pat McEvedy, T Morgan(c), P Bush, Tommy Vile, Reg Edwards DH Trail, D Dobson, S Bevan, Burnett Massey, SN Crowther, Blair Swannell, Boxer Harding

### New Zealand

* 13 August
| New Zealand | 9–3 | British Isles |
| Try: D McGregor (2) Pen: Wallace | | Pen: Harding |
* Athletic Park, Wellington Attendance: 20,000 Referee: F.T. Evans (Auckland, New Zealand)
Team details :
| New Zealand | British Isles |

#### Notes

* 1 2 From 1899, Australia tended to use the colours of the state they were playing in, the Waratah's light blue in Sydney and the Queensland Reds' maroon in Brisbane.