The 2001 Kangaroo Tour was the

Australia national rugby league team The Australian national rugby league team, the Kangaroos, have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competitions since the establishment of the game in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian Rugby League Com ...

's nineteenth Kangaroo tour of Great Britain. The truncated tour featured only the three Ashes series Test matches against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. The 2001 tour was almost abandoned due to military action in the wake of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. Australia continued its dominance, winning two of the three tests against

and retaining The Ashes that they have held since 1973.

Background

The 2001 Kangaroo tour was initially cancelled by the

Australian Rugby League The Australian Rugby League Commission Limited (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League Limited known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australi ...

(ARL) but after strong public opinion in both Great Britain and Australia, it went ahead. However, the only games played were the three tests, marking the first Kangaroo Tour to not play against any British club or provincial teams. The 2001 tour was also the first since 1933–34 not to include a Test match against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

along with

The Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played biennially between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, '' The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, ...

series.

Touring Squad

The team was coached by Chris Anderson who was making his third Kangaroo Tour, and first as coach, after playing in the

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

and

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

tours, the second in 1982 as a member of the famed " Invincibles". Team captain was

Brad Fittler Bradley Scott Fittler (born 5 February 1972), also known by the nickname of "Freddy", is an Australian rugby league commentator, television presenter, and former player. Fittler captained both New South Wales rugby league team, New South Wales ...

, the youngest ever Kangaroo tourist in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

at the age of 18, was making his third and last Kangaroo Tour after being part of the successful 1990 and

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

touring teams. Fittler was also the only member of the squad that had previously taken part in a Kangaroo tour.

Ashes series

Test Venues

The three Ashes series tests took place at the following venues.

Results

, - bgcolor="#CCCCFF" , Date , Opponent , Score , Ground , Referee , Crowd , Report , - bgcolor="#FFFFFF" , November 11 , , 20 – 12 ,

Kirklees Stadium Kirklees Stadium, currently known as the John Smith's Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. Since 1994, it has been the home ground of Huddersfield Town A.F.C., Huddersfield Town A ...

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

, R. Connolly (GB) , 21,458
bbc.co.uk
, - , - bgcolor="#FFFFFF" , November 17 , , 12 – 40 ,

Reebok Stadium The Toughsheet Community Stadium is a Association football, football stadium in Horwich near Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. It is the home ground of Bolton Wanderers F.C., Bolton Wanderers Football Club, with an all-seated capacity of 28, ...

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

, B. Harrigan (AUS) , 22,152
bbc.co.uk
, - , - bgcolor="#FFFFFF" , November 24 , , 8 – 28 , JJB Stadium,

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

, B. Harrigan (AUS) , 25,011
bbc.co.uk
, -

1st Test

Great Britain led 12 nil at half time but after the break Australia came back strongly. The home side were able to get the upset in the end.

2nd Test

After trailing 40 nil at half time, Great Britain's two tries in the final ten minutes were too little too late. The main contributors of Australia's victory were scrum half back Andrew Johns, who scored two tries and kicked all but one of the six conversions, and fullback Darren Lockyer.

3rd Test

For the first time since the 1986 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France, the Lions and Kangaroos had met in

. Great Britain scored the opening try of the match early in the first half, but by the break trailed 12-6 behind Australia. During the first half of the game, Australia's coach Chris Anderson suffered a heart attack and was taken to hospital.

Statistics

Leading Try Scorer * 3 by

Andrew Johns Andrew Gary Johns (born 19 May 1974), also known by the nickname Joey, is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He is considered one of the greatest rugby league players of all time. Johns ...

Leading Point Scorer * 34 by

(3 tries, 11 goals) Largest Attendance * 25,011 - Third test vs

at JJB Stadium

References

External links

2001 Kangaroo Tour at rugbyleagueproject.org
{{2001 in rugby league Australia national rugby league team tours Rugby league tours of Great Britain Kangaroo tour of Great Britain Kangaroo Tour of Great Britain