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1904 British Lions tour to Australia and New Zealand

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1904 British Lions tour to Australia and New Zealand
The British Isles team
Date18 June – 31 August
CoachArthur O'Brien
Tour captainScotland David Bedell-Sivright
Test series winners(v Australia):
British Isles (0–3)
(v New Zealand):
 New Zealand (1–0)
Top test point scorerWales Percy Bush (20)
Tour chronology

The 1904 British Isles tour to New Zealand and Australia was the sixth tour by a British Isles rugby union team and the third to New Zealand or Australia. It is retrospectively classed as one of the British Lions tours, as the Lions naming convention was not adopted until 1950.

Led by Scotland captain David Bedell-Sivright and managed by Arthur O'Brien the tour included 19 matches, 14 in Australia and 5 in New Zealand. Four of the fixtures were test matches – three against Australia and one against the New Zealand All Blacks. The Lions won all three Australian tests but lost the All Blacks game.

This was the first time that a British team played both Australia and New Zealand in the same tour. It was also the last series until 1989 in which Australian matches were the major component; in between the only Australian fixtures were those appended onto a longer New Zealand tour. The team's captain, Bedell-Sivright, a veteran of the 1903 tour of South Africa, was requested to lead the team by England's Rugby Football Union. Bedell-Sivright broke his leg in the opening match of the New Zealand leg of the tour and Teddy Morgan took over the captaincy.

The uniforms worn by the Lions remained the same as previous tours, blue used in thick hoops and the red and white in thin bands.[1]

Touring party

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Results

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Complete list of matches played by the British Lions:[10][11][12]

  Test matches

New Zealand national team that played British Isles in Wellington
The Auckland side that defeated the Lions team on 20 August
Match Date Opponent Location Result Score
Match 1 18 June NSW Waratahs Sydney, Australia Won 27–0
Match 2 22 June Western District Combined Bathurst, Australia Won 21–6
Match 3 25 June NSW Waratahs Sydney, Australia Won 29–6
Match 4 29 June Metropolitan Union Sydney, Australia Won 19–6
Match 5 2 July  Australia Sydney, Australia Won 17–0
Match 6 6 July Northern Districts Newcastle, Australia Won 17–3
Match 7 9 July Queensland Reds Brisbane, Australia Won 24–5
Match 8 13 July Metropolitan Union Brisbane, Australia Won 17–3
Match 9 16 July Queensland Reds Brisbane, Australia Won 18–7
Match 10 20 July Toowoomba Toowoomba, Australia Won 12–3
Match 11 23 July  Australia Brisbane, Australia Won 17–3
Match 12 27 July New England Armidale, Australia Won 26–9
Match 13 30 July  Australia Sydney, Australia Won 16–0
Match 14 6 August Canterbury / West Coast RU Christchurch, New Zealand Won 5–3
Match 15 10 August Otago / Southland RU Dunedin, New Zealand Won 14–8
Match 16 13 August  New Zealand Wellington, New Zealand Lost 3–9
Match 17 17 August Taranaki / Wanganui / Manawatu RU New Plymouth, New Zealand Drew 0–0
Match 18 20 August Auckland RU Auckland, New Zealand Lost 0–13
Match 19 31 August NSW Waratahs Sydney, Australia Won 5–0
Summary[10]
Played in Matches Won Lost Drawn Points for Points against
Australia 14 14 0 0 265 51
New Zealand 5 2 2 1 22 33
Total 19 16 2 1 287 84

Test details

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Australia 1st Test

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2 July
Australia 0–17United Kingdom British Isles
Try: Bush
Llewellyn
Con: Harding
O'Brien
Drop: Bush
Sydney Cricket Ground
Attendance: 34,000
Referee: Tom Pauling

Australia 2nd Test

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23 July
Australia 3–17United Kingdom British Isles
Try: BurdonTry: Bush
Llewellyn
O'Brien
Goal: Bush
Exhibition Ground, Brisbane
Attendance: 15,000
Referee: W.H Beattie

Australia 3rd Test

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New Zealand

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13 August 1904
New Zealand 9-3United Kingdom British Isles
Try: McGregor (2)
Pen: Wallace		Pen: Harding
Athletic Park, Wellington
Attendance: 20,000
Referee: FT Evans (New Zealand)
Full Back15Dick McGregor
Right Wing Three-quarter14Billy Wallace (Goal Kicker)
Centre Three-quarter13Eric Harper
Second Five-eighth12Morrie Wood
Left Wing Three-quarter11Duncan McGregor
First Five-eighth10Billy Stead
Half Back9Peter Harvey
Wing Forward8Dave Gallaher (Captain)
Back Row7Bronco Seeling
Back Row6Billy Glenn
Side Row5George Nicholson
Lock4Bernie Fanning
Side Row3Tom Cross
Hooker2Paddy McMinn
Hooker1George Tyler
Manager:
Jimmy Duncan
Full Back15Arthur O'Brien
Right Wing14Teddy Morgan (Captain)
Outside Centre13Rhys Gabe
Inside Centre12Willie Llewellyn
Left Wing11Pat McEvedy
Fly Half10Percy Bush
Scrum Half9Tommy Vile
Number 88Arthur Harding (Goal Kicker)
Openside Flanker7Blair Swannell
Blindside Flanker6Sid Crowther
Right Lock5Reg Edwards
Left Lock4Sid Bevan
Tight Head Prop3Ron Rogers
Hooker2David Trail
Loose Head Prop1Denys Dobson
Coach:
Arthur O'Brien

Team Strip

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|- |

New Zealand
British Isles
Notes
  1. 1 2 From 1899, Australia tended to use the colours of the state they were playing in, the Waratah's light blue in Sydney and the Queensland Reds' maroon in Brisbane.[13]

References

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  1. ↑ Lions change their stripes on Lions website, 17 Apr 2005
  2. ↑ "Player archives – Chris Stanger-Leathes". British Lions Ltd. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  3. ↑ "Player archives – John Fisher". British Lions Ltd. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  4. ↑ "Player archives – John Sharland". British Lions Ltd. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  5. ↑ "Player archives – Charlie Patterson". British Lions Ltd. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  6. ↑ "Player archives – Reg Edwards". British Lions Ltd. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  7. ↑ "Player archives – Burnett Massey". British Lions Ltd. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  8. ↑ "Player archives – Ron Rogers". British Lions Ltd. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  9. ↑ "Player archives – Stuart Saunders". British Lions Ltd. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  10. 1 2 "Past Tour Results: 1903–1904". British Lions Ltd. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  11. ↑ British & Irish Lions results on Rugby Football History
  12. ↑ Early Lions: Squads and results (1888–1938) on BBC Sport, 18 May 2005
  13. ↑ Brief history of the quirky colours of the Wallaby jersey by Spiro Zavos on The Roar website, 25 Aug 2012

Further reading

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  • Thomas, Clem; Thomas, Greg (2005). The History of The British and Irish Lions. Mainstream Books. pp. 50–54. ISBN 1-84596-030-0.
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