2007 All Golds Tour

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The 2007 All Golds Tour was conducted as part of the celebrations of a century of rugby league in New Zealand. It was a re-creation of the original New Zealand rugby league tour of Great Britain in 1907. The New Zealand Kiwis toured Great Britain and France playing four test matches. They lost the series against Great Britain 3-0, failing to win the Baskerville Shield. In addition a special game was played between the "All Golds" and the "Northern Union" which featured many players coming out of international retirement for the game. The tour also involved a reception with The Queen at Buckingham Palace for the squad.[1]

History

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Main article: 1907-1908 New Zealand rugby tour of Great Britain

In 1905 New Zealand's rugby union team toured Great Britain and witnessed the growing popularity of the professional Northern Union rugby code.

With this popularity in mind, and sensing a financial opportunity, Albert Henry Baskerville recruited a group of players for a professional tour of Great Britain, and wrote to the Northern Rugby Football Union asking if they were willing to host a New Zealand touring party. This team toured Australia and then Great Britain in 1907, and was known colloquially as the All Golds, or Professional All Blacks.

Squad

Name Australia GB GB GB France Games Tries Goals FGs Points Club
Louis Anderson BE BE SR SR 4* 1 0 0 4 New Zealand Warriors
Roy Asotasi (C) PR PR PR PR PR 5 0 0 0 0 South Sydney Rabbitohs
Luke Covell WG 1 0 0 0 0 Cronulla Sharks
Greg Eastwood BE BE 2* 0 0 0 0 Brisbane Broncos
David Faiumu BE BE BE 3 0 0 0 0 North Queensland Cowboys
Dene Halatau HK HK HK HK HK 5 0 0 0 0 Wests Tigers
Shontayne Hape BE CE WG 3 2 0 0 8 Bradford Bulls
Lance Hohaia FE FE BE 3 0 1 0 2 New Zealand Warriors
Krisnan Inu FB 1 0 0 0 0 Parramatta Eels
Shaun Kenny-Dowall WG 1* 1 0 0 4 Sydney Roosters
Epalahame Lauaki BE BE 2* 0 0 0 0 New Zealand Warriors
Thomas Leuluai HB HB BE 3* 1 0 0 4 Wigan Warriors
Jeff Lima BE BE BE 3 0 0 0 0 Melbourne Storm
Simon Mannering SR SR SR LK LK 5 0 0 0 0 New Zealand Warriors
Steve Matai CE 1 0 0 0 0 Manly Warringah Sea Eagles
Fuifui Moimoi PR PR BE BE BE 5 0 0 0 0 Parramatta Eels
Sam Perrett FB FB FB FB 4* 0 0 0 0 Sydney Roosters
Frank Pritchard SR SR SR 3 0 0 0 0 Penrith Panthers
Sam Rapira BE BE PR PR PR 5 0 0 0 0 New Zealand Warriors
Ben Roberts FE FE FE 3 0 3 0 6 Bulldogs
Jeremy Smith HB HB HB 3 0 3 0 6 South Sydney Rabbitohs
Jeremy Smith LK LK LK SR SR 5 0 0 0 0 Melbourne Storm
Chase Stanley WG WG 2* 2 0 0 8 St. George Illawarra Dragons
Clinton Toopi CE CE CE 3* 0 0 0 0 Leeds Rhinos
Taniela Tuiaki WG WG WG WG 4 1 0 0 4 Wests Tigers
Tame Tupou WG 1* 0 0 0 0 Bradford Bulls
Paul Whatuira CE CE CE CE CE 5 3 0 0 12 Wests Tigers

*Also played in All Golds match.

Australian representative

To celebrate the inclusion of Australia's Dally Messenger in the original All Golds tour, Andrew Johns was initially invited to join the New Zealand team for the match against the Northern Union.[2] However, due to a career ending neck injury, he was unable to play with the squad.[3]

Australian captain Darren Lockyer was then set to take Johns' place until he too was ruled out after suffering a season-ending knee injury.[4][5] Trent Barrett was then linked with the stand-off role in the side however the place was taken by New Zealand Warriors captain and Queensland front rower Steve Price.[6] The Australian Test prop said it was "mind-blowing" to be invited on the tour.[7][8]

All Blacks and former Kiwi Test players

The NZRL expressed interest to include recently retired New Zealand Rugby League Legends Nigel Vagana, Ruben Wiki, and Stacey Jones in test matches. All three came out of international retirement to play in the match against the Northern Union.

Several current and former All Blacks were also considered for the match against the Northern Union. Players who grew up playing rugby league such as Carlos Spencer, Piri Weepu and Ma'a Nonu were approached by the NZRL however none were available due to rugby union commitments.[9]

Jonah Lomu was also considered but was effectively ruled out due to media and personal appearance commitments at the 2007 Rugby World Cup.[10]

Coach

Brisbane Broncos coach Wayne Bennett accepted the invitation from the New Zealand Rugby League to join the All Golds for their commemorative match against the Northern Union in England in October.[11] The former Queensland and Australian coach stated "This is a great honour and it's unique in the game."[12]

All Golds v Northern Union Team

This was an exhibition match played under 1907 rules.[13]

Interchange

Coach: Wayne Bennett

^Australian guest player

Fixtures

The New Zealand side played a total of five matches while on their European tour and one test in New Zealand before leaving.

Date Opponent Venue Result Score Attendance Report
13 October 2007 Australia Westpac Stadium, Wellington Lost 0-58 16,681 [14]
21 October 2007 All Golds v Northern Union Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington Won 25-18 [15]
27 October 2007 Great Britain Galpharm Stadium, Huddersfield Lost 14-20 16,522 [16]
3 November 2007 Great Britain Kingston Communications Stadium, Hull Lost 0-44 20,324 [17]
10 November 2007 Great Britain JJB Stadium, Wigan Lost 22-28 21,235 [18]
17 November 2007 France Stade Jean-Bouin, Paris Won 22-14 6,781 [19]
The third Test: New Zealand against Great Britain in 2007.

Aftermath

Great Britain's scrum half back, Rob Burrow was awarded the George Smith Medal as player of the series which he finished as top points scorer with 26 from two tries and nine goals.[20] Coach Gary Kemble was fired after the tour losses, with Roy Asotasi and David Kidwell leading a public campaign to replace him.[21] Kemble was replaced by Stephen Kearney as head coach and Wayne Bennett assistant coach, a combination which took the Kiwis to win the 2008 World Cup. The All Golds played another match, against the New Zealand Māori in New Plymouth, in 2008 as part of the lead up to the Rugby League World Cup.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ BBC SPORT | Rugby League | Northern Union 18-25 All Golds Archived 21 February 2011 at WebCite
  16. ↑ Great Britain vs New Zealand 2007 Series - Game 1 Archived 21 February 2011 at WebCite
  17. ↑ Great Britain vs New Zealand 2007 Series - Game 2 Archived 21 February 2011 at WebCite
  18. ↑ Great Britain vs New Zealand 2007 Series - Game 3 Archived 21 February 2011 at WebCite
  19. ↑ France vs New Zealand 2007 Archived 21 February 2011 at WebCite
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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