1967–68 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France

The 1967-68 Kangaroo tour was the twelfth Kangaroo Tour, where the Australian national rugby league team travelled to Europe and played twenty one matches against British and French club and representative rugby league teams, in addition to three Test matches against Great Britain and three Tests against the French. It followed the tour of 1963-64 and the next was staged in 1973.

The 1967-68 Kangaroo tour became infamously known as the "Bowler Hat Tour". Legend had it that a Kangaroos forward had walked through the West Yorkshire town of Ilkley one night wearing nothing but a bowler hat. Although Johnny Raper often jokingly claimed it was him, in 1988 on Brisbane television, Dennis Manteit claimed that he was in fact the man in the bowler hat.

The squad's leadership

The team was captain-coached by Reg Gasnier making his third and ultimately final Kangaroo Tour. Gasnier broke his leg during the first test at Headingley that saw him sit out the remainder of the English leg. He returned to the field in France but in a minor game against Les Espoirs in Avignon, he suffered a further break. This would ultimately cause him to announce his retirement from playing at the age of just 28. He later told in an interview that he never regretted his decision to retire, explaining that he had been playing rugby league virtually non-stop including juniors, junior representative games, the Sydney premiership, interstate games and international tours since the early 1950s and felt it was about time that he started devoting more time to his family.^[1]

Touring squad

Player	Club	Position(s)	Tests	Games	Tries	Goals	F/Goals	Points
Tony Branson	Nowra Warriors (NSW Country)	Five-eighth	5
Ron Coote	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Lock, Second-row	5
Noel Gallagher	Bundaberg RL (Qld)	Hooker	2
Peter Gallagher (vc)	Past Brothers (Qld)	Prop	6
Reg Gasnier (ca/co)	St George Dragons	Centre	1
John Gleeson	Past Brothers (Qld)	Five-eighth, Halfback	3
Kevin Goldspink	Canterbury-Bankstown Berries	Second-row	0
Johnny Greaves	Canterbury-Bankstown Berries	Centre, Wing	5
Les Hanigan	Manly Warringah Sea Eagles	Centre, Wing	0
Ken Irvine	North Sydney Bears	Wing	1
Les Johns	Canterbury-Bankstown Berries	Fullback	6
Kevin Junee	Eastern Suburbs Roosters	Halfback	0
Noel Kelly	Western Suburbs Magpies	Hooker, Prop	5
Johnny King	St George Dragons	Wing	6
Graeme Langlands	St George Dragons	Fullback, Centre	6
Ron Lynch	Parramatta Eels	Lock, Second-row	4
Dennis Manteit	Past Brothers (Qld)	Second-row, Prop	3
John McDonald	Toowoomba Valleys (Qld)	Centre, Wing	5
Brian Moore	Newtown Bluebags	Centre	0
Johnny Raper (vc)	St George Dragons	Lock	5
Elton Rasmussen	St George Dragons	Prop, Second-row	6
Ron Saddler	Eastern Suburbs Roosters	Wing, Centre	0
John Sattler	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Prop	0
Billy Smith	St George Dragons	Halfback	5
Allan Thomson	Lakes United (NSW Country)	Second-row	1
Elwyn Walters	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Hooker	0

Great Britain

The Ashes series against Great Britain saw an aggregate crowd of 53,353 attending the Test series. The largest attendance of the tour came during the Kangaroos 6-12 loss to Wigan in front of 22,770 fans at Central Park on 13 October.

Saturday, 30 September	Warrington	7 – 16	Australia	Wilderspool Stadium, Warrington
				Attendance: 11,642

Wednesday, 4 October	Yorkshire	15 – 14	Australia	Belle Vue, Wakefield
				Attendance: 19,370 Referee: D. Brown

Saturday, 7 October	Hull Kingston Rovers	27 – 15	Australia	Craven Park, Hull
				Attendance: 11,252

Wednesday, 11 October	Lancashire	2 – 14	Australia	The Willows, Salford
				Attendance: 9,369 Referee: R. Appleyard

Friday, 13 October	Wigan	12 – 6	Australia	Central Park, Wigan
				Attendance: 22,770

Friday, 13 October	Rochdale	2 – 25	Australia	Athletic Grounds, Rochdale
				Attendance: 2,676

The Ashes series

First Test

The first Ashes series test was played at Headingley, Leeds. Kangaroos captain-coach Reg Gasnier suffered a broken leg which would keep him out of the rest of the English leg of the tour while lock forward Johnny Raper would play most of the game with a fractured cheek bone.^[2]

Saturday, 21 October

Great Britain	16 – 11	Australia
Tries: Roger Millward Chris Young Goals: Roger Millward (3) Bill Holliday (1) Drop Goals: Tommy Bishop		Tries: Graeme Langlands Goals: Graeme Langlands (4)

Headingley, Leeds Attendance: 22,293 Referee/s: Fred Lindrop

Tuesday, 24 October	St Helens	8 – 4	Australia	Knowsley Road, St Helens
				Attendance: 17,275

Saturday, 28 October	Wakefield Trinity	7 – 33	Australia	Belle Vue, Wakefield
				Attendance: 10,056

Second Test

The second test at London's White City Stadium saw the Australian's tie the series at one game all with a 17-11 win in front of 17,445 fans.^[3]

Friday, 3 November

Great Britain	11 – 17	Australia
Tries: Tommy Bishop Goals: Neil Fox (3) Field Goals: Tommy Bishop		Tries: Ron Coote Johnny King Graeme Langlands Goals: Graeme Langlands (4)

White City Stadium, London Attendance: 17,445 Referee/s: Fred Lindrop

Thursday, 9 November	Castleford	22 – 3	Australia	Wheldon Road, Castleford
				Attendance: 6,137

Saturday, 11 November	Oldham	8 – 18	Australia	The Watersheddings, Oldham
				Attendance: 3,174

Monday, 13 November	Widnes	11 – 33	Australia	Lowerhouse Lane, Widnes
				Attendance: 9,828

Thursday, 16 November	Barrow	10 – 10	Australia	Craven Park, Barrow-in-Furness
				Attendance: 8,418

Saturday, 18 November	Cumberland	17 – 15	Australia	Derwent Park, Workington
				Attendance: 7,545 Referee: J. Hebblethwaite

Wednesday, 22 November	Swinton	17 – 15	Australia	Station Road, Swinton
				Attendance: 5,640

Saturday, 25 November	Leeds	4 – 7	Australia	Headingley, Leeds
				Attendance: 5,522

Wednesday, 29 November	Halifax	2 – 22	Australia	Thrum Hall, Halifax
				Attendance: 5,285

Saturday, 2 December	Bradford Northern	3 – 7	Australia	Odsal Stadium, Bradford
				Attendance: 14,173

Third Test

The Kangaroos retained The Ashes with a hard fought 11-3 win on a frozen ground at Station Road in Swinton.^[4]

Saturday, 9 December

Great Britain	3 – 11	Australia
Tries: Malcolm Price Goals:		Tries: Tony Branson Ron Coote Johnny King Goals: Graeme Langlands (1)

Station Road, Swinton Attendance: 13,615 Referee/s: Fred Lindrop Man of the Match: Johnny Raper

France

First test

17 December 1967

France	7 – 7	Australia
Tries: Georges Bonet Goals Andre Lacaze (2)		Tries: Les Johns Goals Les Johns (1) Graeme Langlands (1)

Stade Vélodrome, Marseille Attendance: 5,193 Referee/s: Georges Jameau

Legendary Australian winger Ken Irvine broke his leg during this game. It was to be his 33rd and final test appearance for the Kangaroos.

Second Test

24 December 1967

France	10 – 3	Australia
Tries: Goals Jean-Pierre Capdouze (5)		Tries: Johnny Greaves Goals

Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne Attendance: 4,193 Referee/s: Andre Breysse

Third Test

7 January 1968

France	16 – 13	Australia
Tries: Daniel Pellerin P Surre Goals Jean-Pierre Capdouze (5)		Tries: Johnny Greaves (2) Graeme Langlands Goals Les Johns (1) Graeme Langlands (1)

Stade des Minimes, Toulouse Attendance: 5,000 Referee/s: Georges Jameau

References

External links

• 1967-68 Kangaroo Tour at Rugby League Project

Rugby league Ashes
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