The 2005 Rugby League Tri-Nations was played in Great Britain and

Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...

. The final was played between Australia and New Zealand at

Elland Road Elland Road, or Elland Road Stadium, is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the Home (sports), home of Leeds United F.C., Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the List of foot ...

on Saturday 26 November. New Zealand won the match 24-0 and were crowned 2005 Tri-Nations champions, breaking Australia's 27-year undefeated international tournament record. The tournament was officially known as the 2005 Gillette Tri-Nations due to

sponsorship Sponsoring something (or someone) is the act of supporting an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. The individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor, is k ...

from

Gillette Gillette is an American brand of safety razors and other personal care products including shaving supplies, owned by the multi-national corporation Procter & Gamble (P&G). Based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, it was owned by The Gil ...

. __TOC__

Participating teams

Each team was to play the other three twice during the round robin tournament. The top two finishing teams would then contest the final.

Officials

One referee from each participating nation was appointed to control matches in the Tri-Nations: *

Tim Mander Timothy Leonard Mander (born 9 August 1961) is an Australian politician and a former leading Australian rugby league referee. He is a Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly. Mander was the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Deputy Leader ...

(2 matches) * Steve Ganson (4 matches) * Glen Black (1 match)

Venues

The games were played at the following venues in Australia, New Zealand and England.

Final

The Tri-Nations Final was played in Leeds.

Results

Tournament matches

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---- * Australia were without their captain

Darren Lockyer Darren James Lockyer (born 24 March 1977) is an Australian television commentator and former professional rugby league footballer. Lockyer was an Australian international and Queensland State representative captain, who played his entire profe ...

for this match and the remainder of the tournament after he injured his foot at training.

Tournament standings

Final

The historic win by the Kiwis over an Australian 17 containing only 3

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

players and one player from the previous month's

2005 NRL grand final The 2005 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the National Rugby League's 2005 NRL season, 2005 Telstra Premiership season. It was played on the night of Sunday, 2 October at Sydney's Telstra Stadium between the W ...

put an end to the Kangaroos' dominance in international rugby league. It was the first time Australia, hot favourites for the match, had failed to win a series or tournament since France defeated them in both Tests of the

1978 Kangaroo tour The 1978 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France comprised the Australia national rugby league team's fourteenth tour of Great Britain and ninth tour of France and took place from September to December 1978. Coached by Frank Stanton and capt ...

. The win by New Zealand was the first time the Kiwis had beaten Australia in a test series or tournament (not including one-off test wins in 1971, 1987 and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

) since 1952. Australian coach Wayne Bennett resigned from the national coaching post just over a week after the final.

Player statistics

Non-series tests

During the series, Australia and New Zealand played additional Tests 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 ...

. This was the first time the two teams had met in a test match since Australia's 74–0 win in

Béziers Béziers (; ) is a city in southern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region. Every August Béziers ho ...

in the last game of the

1994 Kangaroo tour The 1994 Kangaroo Tour was the 18th and last Kangaroo Tour played in the conventional format, where the Australia national rugby league team (known as the XXXX Kangaroos due to sponsorship reasons) played a number of matches against British and ...

. For this match, Craig Gower was given the honour of captaining Australia for the first time.Annual Report 2005
–

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 ...

Australia 44 (A Minichiello 2, T Waterhouse 2, M Cooper, S Prince, C Gower, W Mason tries; S Prince 6 goals) defeated France 12 (L Frayssinous, M Gresqueu tries; L Frayssinous 2 goals) ----

Other game

New Zealand played a midweek match against England "A" which did not count as a test match. Halftime was 12-all.

References

External links

''Kiwis overcome critics to down Kangaroos in Tri-Nations opener'' – kangaroos.leagueunlimited.com

2005 Tri-nations final at trinations.rlfans.com

{{2005 in rugby league Rugby League Tri-Nations

Rugby League Tri-Nations The Rugby League Tri-Nations (known as the Gillette Tri-Nations for sponsorship reasons) was a rugby league tournament involving the top three teams in the sport: Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand and is the predecessor of today's Rugby L ...

Tri-Nations

International rugby league competitions hosted by the United Kingdom

Participating teams

Officials

Venues

Final

Results

Tournament matches

Tournament standings

Final

Player statistics

Non-series tests

Other game

See also

References

Further reading

External links