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1972 Rugby League World Cup

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1972 (1972) World Cup  ()
Number of teams4
Host country France
Winner Great Britain (3rd title)

Matches played7
Attendance62,456 (8,922 per match)
Points scored240 (34.29 per match)
Top scorerUnited Kingdom John Holmes (26)
Top try scorerAustralia Bob Fulton (5)
 < 1970
1975

The sixth Rugby League World Cup was held in France in October and November 1972. Australia started as the favourites to retain the trophy they had won just two years previously. New Zealand had beaten all three of the other nations in 1971 and France were expected to be tough opponents on their home soil. In the event Great Britain confounded most expectations by running out worthy winners[citation needed] and levelling their tally of World Cup wins at 3–3 with the Australians.

The final was held at Stade Gerland in Lyon. Great Britain played Australia and in the end, with scores level and unchanged after extra time, claimed the cup on league placing.

This was the last World Cup to be played under the four-tackle rule.

Squads

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Venues

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Marseille Paris Toulouse
Stade Vélodrome Parc des Princes Stadium Municipal
Capacity: 55,000 Capacity: 48,712 Capacity: 37,000
Perpignan Pau Grenoble
Stade Gilbert Brutus Stade du Hameau Stade Lesdiguières
Capacity: 13,000 Capacity: 12,000 Capacity: 12,000
Stade du Hameau - Pau
Stade du Hameau - Pau

Final Venue

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Lyon
Stade de Gerland
Capacity: 45,000

Results

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Group stage

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Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
 Great Britain 3 3 0 0 93 44 +49 6 Advances to the Final
 Australia 3 2 0 1 61 41 +20 4
 France 3 1 0 2 33 53 −20 2
 New Zealand 3 0 0 3 33 82 −49 0
Source: [citation needed]
28 October 1972 France  20 – 9  New Zealand Stade Vélodrome, Marseille
29 October 1972 Great Britain  27 – 21  Australia Stade Gilbert Brutus, Perpingnan
1 November 1972 France  4 – 13  Great Britain Stade Lesdiguières, Grenoble
1 November 1972 Australia  9 – 5  New Zealand Parc des Princes, Paris
4 November 1972 Great Britain  53 – 19  New Zealand Stade du Hameau, Pau
5 November 1972 France  9 – 31  Australia Stadium Municipal, Toulouse

Final

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11 November 1972
Great Britain  10–10
(AET)
 Australia
Tries:
Clive Sullivan
Mike Stephenson
Goals:
Terry Clawson (2)
[1]
Tries:
John O'Neill
Arthur Beetson
Goals:
Ray Branighan (2)
Stade de Gerland, Lyon
Attendance: 4,231
Referee: Georges Jameau France
Great Britain
Australia
FB 1 Paul Charlton
RW 2 Clive Sullivan (c)
RC 3 Chris Hesketh
LC 4 John Walsh
LW 5 John Atkinson
SO 6 John Holmes
SH 7 Steve Nash
PR 8 Terry Clawson
HK 9 Mike Stephenson
PR 10 David Jeanes
SR 11 Phil Lowe
SR 12 Brian Lockwood
LF 13 George Nicholls
Substitutions:
IC 14 Bob Irving
IC 15
Coach:
England Jim Challinor
FB 1 Graeme Langlands (c)
RW 2 John Grant
RC 3 Mark Harris
LC 4 Geoff Starling
LW 5 Ray Branighan
FE 6 Bob Fulton
HB 7 Dennis Ward
PR 8 John O'Neill
HK 9 Elwyn Walters
PR 10 Bob O'Reilly
SR 11 Arthur Beetson
SR 12 Gary Stevens
LK 13 Gary Sullivan
Substitutions:
IC 14 Fred Jones
IC 15
Coach:
Australia Harry Bath

The French public seemed uninterested in a final that did not involve the home team, as just over 4,200 spectators turned up. The game will always be remembered by the British for their captain Clive Sullivan's wonderful long distance try[2][3] and by the Australians for perhaps "the greatest try never scored",[4] later shown on TV to be legitimately scored by Australian fullback Graeme Langlands but disallowed by French referee Georges Jameau.[5] Mike Stephenson scored the 73rd-minute try that helped Great Britain level the scores and secure the World Cup.[6] Had Aussie winger Ray Branighan succeeded with a 79th-minute penalty or Bob Fulton landed one of three drop goal attempts in the last five minutes, the cup could easily have gone to Australia. But for the first time in the competition's history the scores were level at full-time. An additional twenty minutes extra time was played, but no further score resulted, and Great Britain were awarded the cup by virtue of a better position in the table.

Try scorers

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5
4
3
2
1

References

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  1. ^ Report
  2. ^ Wright, J (23 August 2007). "Rugby League's Greatest Ever Full-back". Times & Star. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
  3. ^ Paddy McAteer (22 December 2010) "Whole World in their Hands" Archived 5 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine North West Evening Mail
  4. ^ Kdouh, Fatima (28 November 2013). "We take a look back at the greatest Rugby League World Cup finals of all time". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  5. ^ Chesterton, Ray (24 October 2008). "Langlands denied greatest try ever". The Daily Telegraph. Australia: News Limited. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  6. ^ Hughes, Ed (31 October 2004). "Caught in Time: Great Britain prepare for 1972 rugby league World Cup final". The Sunday Times. UK: Times Newspapers Ltd. Retrieved 18 October 2010.[dead link]
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