1954 Rugby League World Cup

1954 World Cup
Number of teams	4
Host country	France
Winner	Great Britain (1st title)
Matches played	7
Attendance	138,329 (19,761 per match)
Points scored	231 (33 per match)
Top scorer	Jimmy Ledgard (29)
Top try scorer	Gordon Brown (6)
Tournaments 1957 >

The first Rugby League World Cup was held in France in 1954^[1] and was officially known as the "Rugby World Cup".^[2] Four nations competed in the tournament: Australia, France, Great Britain and New Zealand. A group stage was held first, with Great Britain topping the table as a result of points difference. They went on to defeat France (who finished second in the table, level on points) in the final, which was held at the Parc des Princes, Paris, in front of around 31,000 spectators.^[3]

The prime motivators behind the idea of holding a rugby league world cup were the French, who were short of money following the seizing of their assets by the rugby union in World War II. The first rugby league World Cup was an unqualified success. It was played in uniformly good spirit, provided an excellent standard of play and was a fitting celebration of France's 20th anniversary as a rugby league-playing nation. The trophy, which was donated by the French, was worth eight million francs.^[4]

Background

The World Cup was a French initiative. Led by Paul Barrière, who donated the World Cup trophy himself,^[5] they had been campaigning for such a tournament since before World War II. Teams from America, Australia, Britain and New Zealand were invited to join hosts, France for the first World Cup in 1953.^[6] However the tournament was not held till 1954, with all teams except America participating.

The uncertainty of the ultimate outcome was of particular interest. In the early 1950s all four competing nations were quite capable of beating each other – no test series in the period was a foregone conclusion.

If there was a favourite it was Australia who had just won back the Ashes. However, in 1953 they had lost series to both the French and the Kiwis, while Great Britain had defeated New Zealand on the second half of their 1954 Australasian tour.

The form book merely provided a conundrum which was made more confusing when the British were forced, through injuries and players making themselves unavailable, to select a raw and largely untried squad which was given little credibility by the cynics.

The captains for this historic event were Puig-Aubert (France), Cyril Eastlake (New Zealand), Clive Churchill (Australia) and Dave Valentine (Britain). The referees were Warrington's Charlie Appleton and Rene Guidicelli (Perpignan).

Teams

Team	Nickname	Coach	Captain
Australia (1st appearance)	The Kangaroos	Vic Hey	Clive Churchill
New Zealand (1st appearance)	The Kiwis	Jim Amos	Cyril Eastlake
Great Britain (1st appearance)	The Lions	G. Shaw	Dave Valentine
France (1st appearance)	Les Chanticleers		Puig Aubert

Matches

Group stage

Key to colours in group tables
Advances to the Final

Team	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	For	Against	Difference	Points
Great Britain	3	2	1	0	67	32	+35	5
France	3	2	1	0	50	31	+19	5
Australia	3	1	0	2	52	58	−6	2
New Zealand	3	0	0	3	34	82	−48	0

30 October 1954	France	22–13	New Zealand	Parc des Princes, Paris

31 October 1954	Australia	13–28	Great Britain	Stade de Gerland, Lyon

7 November 1954	France	13–13	Great Britain	Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse

7 November 1954	Australia	34–15	New Zealand	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille

11 November 1954	Great Britain	26–6	New Zealand	Stade Chaban Delmas, Bordeaux

11 November 1954	France	15–5	Australia	Stade Marcel Saupin, Nantes

Final

13 November 1954

France	12–16	Great Britain
Tries: Vincent Cantoni Raymond Contrastin Goals: Puig Aubert	Report	Tries: Gordon Brown (2) David Rose Gerry Helme Goals: Jimmy Ledgard

Parc des Princes, Paris Attendance: 30,368 Referee/s: Charles Appleton Man of the Match: Don Robinson

References

In-line

1. 1954 World Cup at rugbyleagueplanet.com
2. SPARC, 2009: 28
3. 1954 World Cup at rugbyleagueproject.org
4. RLIF. "Past Winners: 1954". Rugby League International Federation. Archived from the original on 12 October 2008. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
5. "1954 World Cup". 188 Rugby League. Archived from the original on 26 February 2012. at 188-rugby-league.co.uk
6. AAP (19 January 1953). "World Cup Suggestion". The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia). p. 7. Retrieved 25 December 2009.

General

• Independent Review Committee (February 2009). "Rugby League – Contributing to New Zealand's Future". New Zealand: SPARC. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 October 2010. Retrieved 13 December 2009.