The Super League Test series was a rugby three- test match series between the

Great Britain Lions The Great Britain national rugby league team represents Great Britain in rugby league. Administered by the Rugby Football League (RFL), the team is nicknamed The Lions. For most of the 20th century, the Great Britain team toured overseas, p ...

and

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

's Australian national team held during November 1997 in England. Named the British Gas Test series due to sponsorship from

Centrica Centrica plc is a British  multinational energy and services company with its headquarters in Windsor, Berkshire, England. It is the largest supplier of gas to domestic customers in the United Kingdom, and one of the largest suppliers ...

British Gas British Gas (trading as Scottish Gas in Scotland) is an energy and home services provider in the United Kingdom. It is the trading name of British Gas Services Limited and British Gas New Heating Limited, both subsidiaries of Centrica. Serving ...

brand, it went to a decider in the third test that was won by Australia.

Background

The Australian side consisted only of players from the 1997 Telstra Cup season (which was run by the Super League (SL)), with none from the 1997 Optus Cup season (which was run 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), who continue to disregard the series and do not count its matches in their records). England's

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 ...

, who have been aligned with the Super League since 1995, does count the series' games as genuine test matches in their player records. Coming off the disaster of the Lions 1996 Oceania tour, when the team won its tests against

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

and

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

, but lost all 3 tests against

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 indeed did not even win a game on the New Zealand leg of the tour, the Lions were looking for redemption. The British team were also attempting to win their first series against Australia since 1970 and their first home series against Australia since

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

. Lions fullback/winger Jason Robinson was the only player from both teams who was not a Super League aligned, player having signed an ARL contract in 1995 at the height of the

Super League war The Super League war was a commercial competition between the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and the Australian Super League to establish pre-eminence in professional rugby league competition in Australia and New Zealand in the mid-1990s. Sup ...

. Robinson had played for a Rest of the World team in a test against the Australian Kangaroos (ARL) earlier in 1997. Although contracted to the ARL, they did not object to Robinson's selection for Great Britain. Robinson had been controversially left off Great Britain's 1996 Oceania tour by the RFL due to his ARL contract.

Test Venues

The three tests took place at the following venues:

First Test

This was Australia's first visit to

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

since the ARL-only Kangaroos' 16–8 win over

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 the 1995 Rugby League World Cup final. It was also the 6th and final time the Australians would play at the famous venue until the 2011 Rugby League Four Nations when they played

at the new

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 ...

on the other hand, were hoping for a repeat of their Wembley victories over Australia to begin both the

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 ...

(19–12) 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 ...

(8–4) Ashes Series. An Australian team drawn from the rebel

competition was much too good for a Britain team coached by former Great Britain international Andy Goodway and captained by giant

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 ...

lock forward Andy Farrell. Former Aussie international John Lang was coach of the Australians with the team captained by Laurie Daley, a veteran of the successful 1990 and 1994 Kangaroo tours, and one of only five players in the team who had played a test at Wembley (Daley, Brett Mullins,

Wendell Sailor Wendell Jermaine Sailor (born 16 July 1974) is an Australian former professional rugby footballer who represented his country in both rugby league and rugby union – a dual code international. In rugby league Sailor was a member of the succes ...

and

Steve Walters Steve Walters (born 28 August 1965), also known by the nickname of "Boxhead", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s who at the peak of his career was considered the best in the game. An ...

had played in 1994, while

Andrew Ettingshausen Andrew "ET" Ettingshausen (born 29 October 1965) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. He played his first grade Australian club football for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks ...

had played in both 1990 and 1994. Walters had also played in the 1992 Rugby League World Cup final at Wembley when Australia defeated Great Britain 10–6 in front of a then world record international attendance of 73,631). Future great of the game

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 ...

made his international debut for Australia at fullback. This would be the last rugby league Test match played at the old Wembley Stadium which was demolished in 2003. The victory giving Australia a 6–4 record at the famous old stadium dating back to the last game of the 1929–30 Kangaroo Tour when Australia defeated

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

26–10 in what was the first ever rugby league international played at Wembley. The Kangaroos would next get to play Wembley in October 2011, that time at the new

when they defeated England 36–20 in the 2011 Four Nations.

Second Test

This game remains the only time that an Australian team has lost at Old Trafford since first playing there in 1986. Great Britain dropped three players following their first test defeat; Mick Cassidy, Anthony Sullivan and Dean Sampson. Martin Crompton was also sacked from the squad after failing to report to training. Gorden Tallis was sin-binned for dissent in the second half. Andy Farrell was credited for inspiring the British to victory.Farrell leads the great British revival
''The Independent'', 9 November 1997

Third Test

Australia wrapped up the Super League Test series with a 37–20 win over the Lions 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 ...

in Leeds. The Australians also extended their unbeaten run against Great Britain at Elland Road in Leeds, having won all four of their games with the Lions played at the stadium since 1986.

References

External links

Great Britain vs Australia SL 1997
at rugbyleagueproject.org {{1997 in rugby league Super League 1997 in Australian rugby league 1997 in English rugby league