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 was a rugby league football tournament run in partnership between Australia national rugby league team, Australia, England national rugby league team, England, New Zealand national rugby league team, New Zealand, a ...

tournament and was played in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in October and November. The series was contested by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, who qualified for their first Four Nations by winning the

2014 European Cup The 2014 Rugby League European Championship 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 ...

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

Background

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 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 ...

in the final of the

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

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League (RFL) is the governing body for rugby league in England. Founded in 1895 as the Northern Rugby Football Union following 22 clubs resigning from the Rugby Football Union, it changed its name in 1922 to the Rugby Footb ...

(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 the area of Anfield, Liverpool, England, which has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since its formation in 1892. The stadium has a seating capacity of 61,276, making it the fifth largest stadium in England. It w ...

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.

Teams

* Denotes winner of tournament event.

Venues

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

Officiating

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 city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, 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 play home games at Craven Park (Barrow), Craven Park and compete in the RFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of British rug ...

player Liam Harrison. The Cumbrian side featured Scottish internationals Oliver Wilkes and Shane Toal.

France vs England

Results

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.

Round 1

Touch Judges:
Jack Smith
Mick Craven
Video Referee:
Bernard Sutton
Reserve Referee:
Gerard Sutton Touch Judges:
James Child
Anthony Elliott
Video Referee:
Bernard Sutton
Reserve Referee:
Ben Cummins

Round 2

England v Scotland Rugby League Four Nations

Touch Judges:
Mick Craven

Chris Kendall Christopher 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 P ...

Video Referee:

Ben Thaler Benjamin Drew 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 Men's Super League. On 24 September 2024, Thaler announced that he wil ...

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

Round 3

Touch Judges:
James Child

Video Referee:

Reserve Referee:
Gerard Sutton The match was originally scheduled to kick-off at 3:30pm BST, however on 22 September the RFL 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 rugby league team, Queensland State of Origin series, State of Origin ...

Broadcasting

Premier Sports Premier Sports is a group of pay sports television channels owned by SSBL Limited that are available in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Premier Sports holds exclusive live rights to La Liga, Scottish League Cup, Elite Ice Hockey League, NHL a ...

was the host broadcaster for every match of the tournament.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rugby League Four Nations, 2016

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

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