# 1997 Australia women's rugby league tour of New Zealand

The Australia women's rugby league tour of New Zealand was the first formal tour by the women's national team. It was also the first visit of a national women's rugby league team to New Zealand. Two of the four matches were full internationals. These were the sixth and seventh international matches played in women's rugby league.

## Background

The New Zealand women's national rugby league team had toured Australia in 1995, winning all seven matches including the two internationals.
The Great Britain women's national rugby league team had toured Australia in 1996, winning the three Test series, two matches to one, and four other tour matches.
Whilst this was the first formal tour by the Australia women's national rugby league team, it was the second by a women's rugby league team from Australia. A combined Australian Capital Territory women's team had toured the North Island of New Zealand in April 1992 playing four matches against club teams. Two club teams from Australia travelled to Suva, Fiji in early October 1993, playing a match against each other, before selecting a combined side and playing as an Australian team against a team of Fijian women.
The New Zealand Women's Rugby League Federation staged the matches without any financial support from the New Zealand Rugby League. The NZWRLF had not (yet) affiliated with the NZRL.
The visitors travelled under the auspices of the Australian Women's Rugby League and were obliged to make a significant contribution to the financial cost of their trip.

## Australia squad

National Championships were held at Redfern Oval on the long weekend in June. Representative teams from Brisbane, Canberra, Illawarra, NSW Country and Sydney competed.
A squad of twenty-six players was announced on 21 August 1997.
The Illawarra Mercury reported that players selected in the team were obliged to provide $3,000 towards the costs of the tour, with one selected player dropping out for financial reasons. The Dominion reported that a total of $45,000 was raised.

### Team leadership

Tarsha Gale was appointed captain, with Karen Shaw as vice-captain.
The team was coached by John Taylor.
Julie McGuffie, who had captained Australia in the previous year's matches against Great Britain, was unavailable due to injury.

### Player's Test record

Notes:
* The Autex New Zealand Rugby League Annual 1997 lists the squads just once, rather than separately for the two Test Matches, which were played four days apart, on September 20 and 24, 1997. The above table displays two matches for the 17 Australians listed on an assumption that the Annual infers that all 17 played both games. It is not, however, explicitly stated.
* A preview of the First Test in The Evening Post listed 26 players, including the 17 listed in the Annual.
* A preview of the First Test in The Dominion listed 18 Australian players, with Steph Payne the player from this list not in the 17 listed in the Annual.
* A player's 1997 club is displayed in the above table, where known.
* Six members of the squad had represented the ACT at the National Championships in early June.
* Nine members of the squad of 26 had played for South Sydney Rabbitohs during the 1997 Sydney Women's Rugby League season, in which the team won a second-successive premiership.
* A brief report on the first tour match published in the Illawarra Mercury listed only the Australians with multiple tries: Loretta O'Neill 4, Karen Shaw 2, Kylie Egan 2, Caryl Jarrett 2, and Sharon Patterson 2.
* A brief report on the second tour match published in The Evening Post remarked that Allison Smith had scored 22 points.

## New Zealand squad

The New Zealand team was selected at the conclusion of a national provincial tournament held on the weekend of 13 and 14 September 2017. One of two Wellington teams, Wellington Gold had a narrow win over one of two Auckland teams, Auckland Blue, in the final. A squad of 17 players was selected, with five players from Wellington and twelve from Auckland.

### Team leadership

Zavana Aranga was appointed captain, with Nadene Conlon as vice-captain.
The team was coached by Janie Thompson (Auckland). The support staff were manager Diane Pakai and trainer Eileen Rankin.

### Player's tour record

Notes:
* The Autex New Zealand Rugby League Annual 1997 lists the squads just once, rather than separately for the two Test Matches. The above table displays two matches for the 17 New Zealanders listed on an assumption that the Annual infers that all 17 played both games. It is not, however, explicitly stated.
* A preview of the First Test in The Evening Post listed only the same 17 players listed in the Annual, grouped by their provincial team.
* A preview of the First Test in The Dominion listed 17 players, but in contrast to the listing in the Annual had Michelle Driscoll at centre, Megan Tahapeehi at prop, and Mate Lefale and Nicole Presland on the interchange bench.
* The Annual identified that eight of the players came from two clubs, Richmond Roses and Te Aroha Eels.
* Roll of Honour / Heritage Numbers (H#) were ascribed to all 1995 tourists. This included Michelle Driscoll and Megan Tahapeehi who played in tour games in 1995 but did not make their Test Match debut until this series.
* Megan Tahapeehi is the sister of Quentin Pongia (35 matches for the New Zealand Kiwis, 167 top-tier club matches, 1993 to 2004).

## Results

* Sunday, 14 September 1997
| Gisborne-East Coast Wahine Toa | 0 — 74 | Australia |
| | | Tries: 16 Loretta O'Neill 4 Kylie Egan 2 Sharon Patterson 2 Caryl Jarrett 2 Karen Shaw 2 4 tries not listed Goals: 5 |
* Gisborne
* Wednesday, 17 September 1997
| Hawke's Bay | 0 — 54 | Australia |
| | | Allison Smith 22 points |
* Hastings
* Saturday, 20 September 1997 2:30 PM
| New Zealand | 34 — 26 | Australia |
| Tries: 7 Trish Hina 2 Michelle Driscoll 2 Selena Edmonds Mere Miki Lemelle Lauaki Goals: 3 Zavana Aranga 3 | 1st: 14–14 2nd: 20–12 | Tries: 5 Loretta O'Neill 2 Jackie Raisin Rebecca Wisener Kylie Egan Goals: 3 Karen Shaw 2 Allison Smith |
* Petone Recreation Ground, Lower Hutt, Wellington
* Wednesday, 24 September 1997 8:00 PM
| New Zealand | 40 — 16 | Australia |
| Tries: 8 Trish Hina 3 Lynley Tierney Lemelle Lauaki Mere Miki Luisa Avaiki Mate Lefale Goals: 4 Zavana Aranga 4 | 1st: 14–10 2nd: 26–4 | Tries: 3 Jodie Billing Caryl Jarrett Katrina Moss Goals: 2 Karen Shaw 2 |
* Carlaw Park, Auckland