# 1985 Kangaroo tour of New Zealand

The 1985 Kangaroo Tour of New Zealand was a mid-season tour of New Zealand by the Australia national rugby league team. The Australians played six matches on tour, including the final two games of a three-game test series against the Graham Lowe coached, Mark Graham captained New Zealand Kiwis, with the first test taking place at Lang Park in Brisbane on 18 June. The New Zealand tour began on 19 June and finished on 10 July.

## Squad and Leadership

After long time coach Frank Stanton stepped down from representative coaching duties after Australia's successful defence of The Ashes in 1984 against the touring Great Britain Lions, the Australian Rugby League re-appointed 1977 Rugby League World Cup Final winning coach and former Parramatta Eels coach Terry Fearnley as head coach of the Kangaroos. The team was captained by Queensland captain Wally Lewis who had captained the team since the 1984 Ashes series. Balmain's New South Wales captain-in waiting Wayne Pearce was chosen as the team vice-captain after Blues captain Steve Mortimer announced his retirement from representative football and declined to tour.
The team consisted of 19 players, 13 of them from the Winfield Cup with all being from New South Wales except for red-headed Manly-Warringah back rower Paul Vautin who was the only Queensland player selected from the Sydney Premiership. 5 of the 6 Queensland based players were drawn from the Brisbane Rugby League competition with only hooker Greg Conescu picked from country Queensland as he was playing for Past Brothers in Gladstone.

## Controversy

While he was named Australian coach, Terry Fearnley had also been appointed as New South Wales State of Origin coach in 1985. After losing the single Origin games played in 1980 and 1981, as well as the 1982, 1983 and 1984 Origin series, the once dominant Blues won their first ever Origin series in 1985 after winning games 1 and 2. In what was to prove a case of bad planning, the test series and the tour of NZ were scheduled to take place between games 2 and 3 of the Origin series.
Rumours soon surfaced that Fearnley and Lewis did not get along on tour. Lewis later confirmed this by admitting in television interviews that the pair hated each other while Fearnley openly admitted that in light of the circumstances he could have done a better job in bringing the team together (Steve Mortimer, who had formed a close friendship with Lewis since they first teamed together in the Australian halves in 1981 and were room mates on the 1982 Kangaroo tour, later also said that he regretted his decision not to tour as he believed his relationships with both of them could have acted as a bridge and eased the tension). Wally Lewis also publicly stated that he believed Fearnley openly favoured vice-captain Wayne Pearce, as well as the rest of the Kangaroos who were from his NSW team. At one point before the third test in Auckland, Lewis claimed to have caught Fearnley and Pearce going over team selection in Fearnley's hotel room, something strongly denied by the pair.
Fearnley himself created controversy on the tour. In the book King Wally which was published in 1987, Wally Lewis claimed that Fearnley had said of team member Michael O'Connor, a NSW player, "Can't play, no heart. Lucky he can kick goals or he wouldn't be here" (a former Wallabies rugby union international, O'Connor was the only player not to play a test on the tour). The publishing of this story led to some animosity over the coming years between Lewis and O'Connor despite them being regular Test team mates until the end of 1989. But the biggest controversy came from the team selection for the third test. Fearnley dropped five players from the second test win, four of them Queenslanders (Chris Close, Mark Murray, Greg Dowling and Greg Conescu - Close and Dowling dropped to the bench. Noel Cleal who played from the bench in the 2nd Test was the only NSW player dropped), which caused all hell to break loose and prompted Queensland Rugby League Chairman, Federal Senator Ron McAuliffe, to publicly condemn the dropping of the four Queensland players from a winning Test side, saying "Its a football assassination and beyond all reasoning. And there can be no reasonable excuse for it".
With the replacement players in place (Steve Ella, Des Hasler, Peter Tunks and Benny Elias), the disjointed Kangaroos would go on to lose the third test 18–0, the first time they had been held scoreless since losing 19–0 to Great Britain in the 3rd Ashes series Test of the 1956–57 Kangaroo tour. Such was the animosity in the group between the NSW and Qld players that according to second row forward Paul "Fatty" Vautin (one of 4 Queensland players who retained their spot in the starting XIII) in his book Fatty: The Strife and Times of Paul Vautin, two of the dropped players Mark Murray and Greg Conescu, acted as the Australian teams statisticians for the game and that both recorded a number of errors that were actually made by team mates to the players who directly replaced them in the side, Hasler and Elias.
Terry Fearnley stepped down as Australian coach following the tour. He would be replaced in 1986 by 1956–57 Kangaroo tourist and Canberra Raiders head coach Don Furner.
As a result of the problems during the tour, the Australian Rugby League made a number of decisions for future Australian teams, including:
* No current State of Origin coach can also be the current Australian coach.
* Mid-season Test series or single Tests will only take place before or after the Origin series and not during one to avoid bringing the NSW vs Qld rivalry into the Australian team.

## Touring squad

* Tests and (as sub) not included in games totals. * Table includes Brisbane Test.
| Player | Club | Position(s) | Games (as sub) | Tests (as sub) | Tries | Goals | F/Goals | Points |
| Noel Cleal | Manly Warringah Sea Eagles | Second-row | 3 | 1 (1) | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| Chris Close | Manly Warringah Sea Eagles | Centre | 2 | 2 (1) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Greg Conescu | Past Brothers Gladstone (Qld) | Hooker | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Greg Dowling | Wynnum Manly Seagulls (Qld) | Prop | 2 | 2 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Benny Elias | Balmain Tigers | Hooker | 2 (1) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Steve Ella | Parramatta Eels | Fullback, Centre, Five-eighth | 3 | 1 (1) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| John Ferguson | Eastern Suburbs Roosters | Wing | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Des Hasler | Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | Halfback, Wing | 3 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| Garry Jack | Balmain Tigers | Fullback | 2 (2) | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Wally Lewis (c) | Wynnum Manly Seagulls (Qld) | Five-eighth | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Mal Meninga | Souths Magpies (Qld) | Centre | 2 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 34 |
| Mark Murray | Redcliffe Dolphins (Qld) | Halfback | 2 (1) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Michael O'Connor | St George Dragons | Centre, Fullback | 4 | – | 3 | 13 | 0 | 38 |
| Wayne Pearce (vc) | Balmain Tigers | Lock | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| John Ribot | Redcliffe Dolphins (Qld) | Wing | 4 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 24 |
| Steve Roach | Balmain Tigers | Prop | 2 (1) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peter Tunks | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | Prop | 4 | 1 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Paul Vautin | Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | Second-row | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peter Wynn | Parramatta Eels | Second-row, Lock | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

## Tour
### First test

Immediately prior to the tour, the first test took place at Lang Park in Brisbane on 18 June. This match is most remembered for the sideline fight between rival prop forwards Greg Dowling and Kevin Tamati after the pair had been sent to the sin-bin for fighting.
* Tuesday, 18 June
| Australia | 26 – 20 | New Zealand |
| Tries: 5 John Ribot (2) Noel Cleal Chris Close Steve Roach Goals: 3 Mal Meninga (2/6) John Ribot (1/1) | | Tries: 3 Dean Bell Olsen Filipaina Hugh McGahan Goals: 4 Olsen Filipaina (4) |
* Lang Park, Brisbane Attendance: 22,000 Referee: Julien Rascagnères Player of the Match: Olsen Filipaina
| Australia | New Zealand |
| FB | 1 | Garry Jack |
| LW | 2 | John Ribot |
| CE | 3 | Chris Close |
| CE | 4 | Mal Meninga |
| RW | 5 | John Ferguson |
| FE | 6 | Wally Lewis (c) |
| HB | 7 | Mark Murray |
| PR | 8 | Greg Dowling |
| HK | 9 | Greg Conescu |
| PR | 10 | Steve Roach |
| SR | 11 | Noel Cleal |
| SR | 12 | Peter Wynn |
| LF | 13 | Wayne Pearce |
| Substitutions: ||
| IC | 14 | Steve Ella |
| IC | 15 | Peter Tunks |
| Coach: ||
| Terry Fearnley ||
| FB | 1 | Gary Kemble |
| LW | 2 | Dean Bell |
| CE | 3 | Gary Prohm |
| CE | 4 | James Leuluai |
| RW | 5 | Dane O'Hara |
| FE | 6 | Olsen Filipaina |
| HB | 7 | Clayton Friend |
| PR | 8 | Owen Wright |
| HK | 9 | Howie Tamati |
| PR | 10 | Kevin Tamati |
| SR | 11 | Kurt Sorensen |
| SR | 12 | Mark Graham (c) |
| LK | 13 | Hugh McGahan |
| Substitutions: ||
| IC | 14 | Riki Cowan |
| IC | 15 | Mark Elia |
| Coach: ||
| Graham Lowe ||
The Australians played six games on the tour, winning five.
* Sunday 23 June
| South Island | 0 – 56 | Australia |
| Tries: Goals: | Report | Tries: Mal Meninga (3), Des Hasler (2), John Ribot (2), John Ferguson, Garry Jack, Wally Lewis, Michael O'Connor Goals: Mal Meninga (6/11) |
* Addington Showgrounds, Christchurch Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Don Wilson Player of the Match: Mal Meninga
South Island: Robin Alfeld, Mike Kerrigan, Bill Baker, Lance Setu, Marty Crequer, David Field (c), Glen Gibb, Paul Truscott, Wayne Wallace, Ross Taylor, Adrian Shelford, Brent Stuart, Barry Edkins. Reserves – Boyd Kilkelly, David Campbell. Coach – Ray Haffenden
Australia: Steve Ella, John Ferguson, Michael O'Connor, Mal Meninga, John Ribot, Wally Lewis (c), Des Hasler, Steve Roach, Benny Elias, Peter Tunks, Wally Fullerton Smith, Noel Cleal, Peter Wynn. Reserves – Garry Jack, Greg Conescu
* Wednesday, 26 June
| Central Districts | 4 – 24 | Australia |
| Tries: John Gray Goals: | Report | Tries: Chris Close, John Ferguson, Des Hasler Goals: Mal Meninga (1) Michael O'Connor (1) |
* Hutt Recreation Ground, Wellington Attendance: 5,500 Referee: Tony Drake
Central Districts: Vaun O'Callaghan, Bill Baker, Ben Mathews, Kelly Shelford, John Gray, Gerard Katene, Phil Bancroft, Glen Bell, James Goulding, Barry Harvey, Sam Stewart, Mike Kuiti, Phillip Henry. Reserves – Gary Freeman, Dave MacFarlane. Coach – John O'Sullivan
Australia: Michael O'Connor, John Ferguson, Chris Close, Mal Meninga, John Ribot, Mark Murray, Des Hasler, Steve Roach, Greg Conescu, Peter Tunks, Wally Fullerton Smith, Paul Vautin, Wayne Pearce (c). Reserves – Garry Jack, Benny Elias

### Second test

The Australians escaped with a 10-6 win over New Zealand thanks to a last minute try to winger John Ribot.
* Sunday, 30 June
| New Zealand | 6 – 10 | Australia |
| Tries: James Leuluai Goals: Olsen Filipaina (1) | | Tries: John Ribot Goals: Mal Meninga (2) John Ribot (1) |
* Carlaw Park, Auckland Attendance: 19,132 Referee: Julien Rascagnères Player of the Match: Olsen Filipaina
| New Zealand | Australia |
| FB | 1 | Gary Kemble |
| LW | 2 | Dean Bell |
| CE | 3 | Gary Prohm |
| CE | 4 | James Leuluai |
| RW | 5 | Dane O'Hara |
| FE | 6 | Olsen Filipaina |
| HB | 7 | Clayton Friend |
| PR | 8 | Owen Wright |
| HK | 9 | Howie Tamati |
| PR | 10 | Kevin Tamati |
| SR | 11 | Kurt Sorensen |
| SR | 12 | Mark Graham (c) |
| LK | 13 | Hugh McGahan |
| Substitutions: ||
| IC | 14 | Joe Ropati |
| IC | 15 | Riki Cowan |
| Coach: ||
| Graham Lowe ||
| FB | 1 | Garry Jack |
| LW | 2 | John Ribot |
| CE | 3 | Chris Close |
| CE | 4 | Mal Meninga |
| RW | 5 | John Ferguson |
| FE | 6 | Wally Lewis (c) |
| HB | 7 | Mark Murray |
| PR | 8 | Greg Dowling |
| HK | 9 | Greg Conescu |
| PR | 10 | Steve Roach |
| SR | 11 | Paul Vautin |
| SR | 12 | Peter Wynn |
| LF | 13 | Wayne Pearce |
| Substitutions: ||
| IC | 14 | Noel Cleal |
| IC | 15 | Steve Ella |
| Coach: ||
| Terry Fearnley ||
* Wednesday, 3 July
| Northern Districts | 6 – 52 | Australia |
| Tries: Shane Horo Goals: Rusty Campbell (1) | Report | Tries: Noel Cleal (2), Steve Ella (2), Garry Jack (2), Benny Elias, Wally Fullerton Smith, Des Hasler, Michael O'Connor, John Ribot Goals: Michael O'Connor (3/8) John Ribot (1/2) |
* Okara Park, Whangārei Attendance: 1,500 Referee: Ray Shrimpton Player of the Match: Peter Tunks
Northern Districts: George Huriwai, Terry Rapana, Walter Toka, Pihama Green, Shane Horo, Russell Stewart, Glenn Donaldson, Tom Murray, Trevor Clark, Darren Harris, Mark Horo, Rusty Campbell, Neville Ramsey. Reserves – Poko Daniels, Derek Nukunuka. Coach – Tony Gordon
Australia: Garry Jack, John Ribot, Michael O'Connor, Steve Ella, John Ferguson, Wally Lewis (c), Des Hasler, Greg Dowling, Benny Elias, Peter Tunks, Noel Cleal, Wally Fullerton Smith, Wayne Pearce. Reserves – Mark Murray, Steve Roach

### Third test

The dead rubber third test also doubled as the first game of the 1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup tournament. John Ribot, Steve Ella, John Ferguson, Peter Wynn and Chris Close played their last tests for Australia.
* Sunday, 7 July
| New Zealand | 18 – 0 | Australia |
| Tries: Clayton Friend (2) James Leuluai Goals: Olsen Filipaina (3/4) | | Tries: Goals: |
* Carlaw Park, Auckland Attendance: 15,327 Referee: Julien Rascagnères Player of the Match: Clayton Friend
| New Zealand | Australia |
| FB | 1 | Gary Kemble |
| LW | 2 | Dean Bell |
| CE | 3 | Gary Prohm |
| CE | 4 | James Leuluai |
| RW | 5 | Dane O'Hara |
| FE | 6 | Olsen Filipaina |
| HB | 7 | Clayton Friend |
| PR | 8 | Owen Wright |
| HK | 9 | Howie Tamati |
| PR | 10 | Kevin Tamati |
| SR | 11 | Kurt Sorensen |
| SR | 12 | Mark Graham (c) |
| LK | 13 | Hugh McGahan |
| Substitutions: ||
| IC | 14 | Joe Ropati |
| IC | 15 | Riki Cowan |
| Coach: ||
| Graham Lowe ||
| FB | 1 | Garry Jack |
| LW | 2 | John Ribot |
| CE | 3 | Mal Meninga |
| CE | 4 | Steve Ella |
| RW | 5 | John Ferguson |
| FE | 6 | Wally Lewis (c) |
| HB | 7 | Des Hasler |
| PR | 8 | Peter Tunks |
| HK | 9 | Benny Elias |
| PR | 10 | Steve Roach |
| SR | 11 | Paul Vautin |
| SR | 12 | Peter Wynn |
| LF | 13 | Wayne Pearce |
| Substitutions: ||
| IC | 14 | Chris Close |
| IC | 15 | Greg Dowling |
| Coach: ||
| Terry Fearnley ||
* Tuesday, 9 July
| Auckland | 10 – 50 | Australia |
| Tries: Mark Bourneville, Dennis Stewart Goals: Nick Wright (1) | Report | Tries: Chris Close (3), Noel Cleal (2), Des Hasler, Garry Jack, Michael O'Connor Goals: Michael O'Connor (9/11) |
* Carlaw Park, Auckland Attendance: 18,000 Referee: Dennis Hale
Auckland: Nick Wright, Mark Bourneville, Darrell Williams, Ron O'Regan, Mark Elia, Kelly Shelford, Sam Panapa, Riki Cowan, Tracey McGregor, Frank Tinitelia, James Goulding, Dennis Stewart, Ian Bell. Reserves – . Coach – Bob Bailey
Australia: Garry Jack, Des Hasler, Chris Close, Michael O'Connor, John Ribot, Steve Ella, Mark Murray, Peter Tunks, Greg Conescu, Greg Dowling, Wally Fullerton Smith, Noel Cleal, Wayne Pearce (c). Reserves –

## Statistics

* stats only for games played in New Zealand. First Test in Brisbane not included here. Leading Try Scorer
* 5 by Des Hasler
Leading Point Scorer
* 38 by Michael O'Connor (3 tries, 13 goals)
Largest Test Attendance
* 19,132 – Second test vs New Zealand at Carlaw Park
Largest non-test Attendance
* 18,000 – Australia vs Auckland at Carlaw Park