The 2016 Rugby League Four Nations tournament (known as the 2016 Ladbrokes Four Nations, for sponsorship purposes) was the fifth staging of the

Rugby League Four Nations The Rugby League Four Nations (known as the Ladbrokes Four Nations in 2016, for sponsorship purposes) was a biennial rugby league football tournament run in partnership between the Australian Rugby League Commission, Rugby Football League and ...

tournament and was played in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

in October and November. The series was contested by Australia,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

, who qualified for their first Four Nations by winning the

2014 European Cup The 2014 European Cup was an international rugby league football tournament. The tournament took place in England, Wales, France, Ireland and Scotland between 17 October and 2 November. It was announced beforehand that the winner of the tournamen ...

. The final was played on 20 November, with Australia winning its third tournament, defeating New Zealand.

History

The 2016 tournament is the fifth Four Nations series to be planned before the

2017 Rugby League World Cup The 2017 Rugby League World Cup was the fifteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup tournament and took place in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea between 27 October and 2 December 2017. The tournament featured the national teams ...

, with the venues rotating between Europe and the South Pacific. In addition to automatic inclusions Australia, England and New Zealand, Scotland qualified for the tournament by defeating

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

in the final of the

. England have previously co-hosted tournaments with other European nations and the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 for the whole British Isles. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisa ...

(RFL) planned to take a game up into Scotland but backed down and decided to take games to other venues. The redeveloped 54,074 capacity

Anfield Stadium Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...

hosted the Four Nations Final. This was the first time in 19 years the venue had held a rugby league match. Three rugby league games have been played at Anfield before. The final was the first ever international rugby league match held at the venue.

Venues

The games were played at the following venues in England. The tournament final was played at Anfield.

Match officials

Teams

* Denotes winner of tournament event.

Standings

* By holding New Zealand to an 18–18 draw in the third round, Scotland became the first 'fourth nation' to score a championship point in the history of the tournament.

Results

Round 1

Touch Judges:
Jack Smith
Mick Craven
Video Referee:
Bernard Sutton
Reserve Referee:
Gerard Sutton Touch Judges:

James Child James Child (born 4 July 1983) is a former English rugby league referee. He was one of the Rugby Football League's Full Time Match Officials. On 19 December 2022, Child announced that he would be stepping down as referee, ahead of the 2023 s ...

Anthony Elliott
Video Referee:
Bernard Sutton
Reserve Referee:
Ben Cummins

Round 2

Touch Judges:
Mick Craven

Chris Kendall Chris Kendall (born 3 June 1992) is an English rugby league referee. He has been a match official at the Rugby League World Cup and took the lead at multiple Super League Grand Finals. Career Kendall played rugby league for the Newsome Panthers a ...

Video Referee:

Ben Thaler Ben Thaler (born 30 August 1981) is a professional rugby league referee and one of the Rugby Football League's Full Time Match Officials. He officiates in the Super League. Background Thaler was born in Normanton, West Yorkshire, England. C ...

Reserve Referee:
Robert Hicks Touch Judges:
Anthony Elliott
Joe Cobb
Video Referee:
Bernard Sutton
Reserve Referee:
Robert Hicks

Round 3

Touch Judges:

Video Referee:

Reserve Referee:
Gerard Sutton 2016 Four Nations Final

The match was originally scheduled to kick-off at 3:30pm BST, however on 22 September the

RFL The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 for the whole British Isles. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisati ...

changed the kick-off time to 2:00pm BST. Touch Judges:
Anthony Elliott
Mick Craven
Video Referee:
Bernard Sutton
Reserve Referee:
Ben Cummins

Final

Player statistics

Player of the Tournament

Cooper Cronk Cooper Patrick Cronk (born 5 December 1983) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. An n international and Queensland State of Origin representative , he played most of his club career for ...

Pre-tournament matches

Before the series, Australia and New Zealand organised to play the first ever International rugby league test-match in

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

, Scotland took on a Cumbrian rugby league team and England took on France in Avignon.

Australia vs New Zealand

Cumbria Select XIII vs Scotland

The Cumbria Select XIII was a Cumbrian-based team selected by retiring

Barrow Raiders The Barrow Raiders are a semi-professional rugby league team in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The club was formed in 1875 as Barrow Football Club. For the 1995–96 and 1996 seasons the club was known as Barrow Braves, becoming the Bar ...

player Liam Harrison. The Cumbrian side featured Scottish internationals

Oliver Wilkes Oliver Wilkes (born 2 May 1980) is a former Scotland international rugby League footballer who played as a and in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. He has played for the Sheffield Eagles, Huddersfield Giants, Keighley Cougars, Leigh Centurions (tw ...

and

Shane Toal Shane Toal (born 11 November 1995) is a Scotland international rugby league footballer who plays on the or as a for the Barrow Raiders in the Championship. He was born in Barrow-In-Furness, Cumbria, England, and he is the younger brother of Da ...

France vs England

Broadcasting

Premier Sports Viaplay Sports and Premier Sports are a group of pay television sports channels owned by Viaplay Group. Viaplay Sports holds exclusive live UK and Republic of Ireland TV rights to La Liga, Scottish League Cup, Elite Ice Hockey League, NHL and ...

was the host broadcaster for every match of the tournament.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rugby League Four Nations, 2016 2016 2016 in English rugby league 2016 in Scottish sport Four Nations Four Nations International rugby league competitions hosted by the United Kingdom October 2016 sports events in the United Kingdom November 2016 sports events in the United Kingdom