1961 Kangaroo tour of New Zealand

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1961 Kangaroo tour of New Zealand
ManagerJack Kessey
G.W. (Jock) Allen
Coach(es)Brian Carlson
Tour captain(s)Brian Carlson
Barry Muir
Top point scorer(s)Don Parish 58
Top try scorer(s)Ken Irvine 10
Top test point scorer(s)Don Parish 11
Top test try scorer(s)6 tries by 6 players (4 Aus, 2 NZ)
Summary
P W D L
Total
09 07 00 02
Test match
02 01 00 01
Opponent
P W D L
 New Zealand
2 1 0 1
Tour chronology
Previous tour1953 by Australian colours.svg to New Zealand Kiwis colours.svg
1959 by New Zealand Kiwis colours.svg to Australian colours.svg
1959-60 to
by
Next tour by
by New Zealand Kiwis colours.svg to Australian colours.svg
1963-64 to
1965 by Australian colours.svg to New Zealand Kiwis colours.svg

The 1961 Kangaroo Tour of New Zealand was a mid-season tour of New Zealand by the Australia national rugby league team. The Australians played nine matches on tour, including two tests against the New Zealand national rugby league team. The tour began on 17 June and finished on 10 July.[1]

Leadership[]

Brian Carlson was both the captain and the coach of the touring side. Carlson did not play in the Second Test and tour vice-captain Barry Muir led Australia in that match.
In the two matches in which neither Carlson nor Muir played, the Kangaroos were captained by Reg Gasnier (against Taranaki) and Ian Walsh (against Auckland).
The team was managed by Jack Kessey of Newtown, New South Wales and G.W. (Jock) Allen of Toowooomba, Queensland.[2]

Touring squad[]

The Rugby League News published

  • details of the touring team including the players' ages and weights;[3] and
  • a summary of match results and players' appearances and points scoring.[4]

Match details - listing surnames of both teams and the point scorers - were included in E.E. Christensen's Official Rugby League Yearbook, as was a summary of the players' point-scoring.[5]
Beattie, Day, Gehrke, Gil, Muir, Paterson and Rasmussen were selected from Queensland clubs. Beaven, Crowe and Owen were selected from clubs in New South Wales Country areas. The balance of the squad had played for Sydney based clubs during the 1961 season.

Player Position Age Weight
st.lb (kg) 		Club Tests
on
Tour 		Games Tries Goals FG Points
Dud Beattie Prop 25 14.12 (94) Parramatta colours.svg Ipswich Railways 1 7 0 0 0 0
Ray Beavan Five-eighth 24 11.2 (71) New South Wales colours.svg Tumut 0 4 0 0 0 0
Brian Carlson Utility Back 28 14.4 (91) St. George colours.svg St George 1 3 0 3 0 6
Ron Crowe Prop 27 14.12 (94) North Sydney colours.svg West Wyalong 2 7 1 1 0 5
Ken Day Lock 25 15.0 (95) Wests Panthers Colours.svg Brisbane Western Suburbs 0 1 0 0 0 0
Frank Drake Fullback 22 11.6 (73) Western Suburbs colours.svg Western Suburbs 1 7 9 0 0 27
Reg Gasnier Centre 22 12.8 (80) St. George colours.svg St George 2 6 6 0 0 18
Bob Gehrke Hooker 23 11.7 (73) Valleys colours.svg Brisbane Valleys 0 5 2 0 0 6
Alan Gil Centre 22 12.4 (78) Faxcolours.svg Toowoomba All Whites 0 6 1 0 0 3
Ken Irvine Wing 21 12.4 (78) North Sydney colours.svg North Sydney 2 8 10 1 0 32
Eddie Lumsden Wing 24 13.9 (87) St. George colours.svg St George 2 8 6 0 0 18
Ron Lynch Second-row 21 13.10 (87) Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta 2 6 0 0 0 0
Barry Muir Halfback 23 10.11 (68) Wests Panthers Colours.svg Brisbane Western Suburbs 2 7 4 2 0 16
Bill Owen Second-row 25 13.7 (86) New South Wales colours.svg Newcastle Northen Suburbs 0 6 1 0 0 3
Don Parish Utility Back 23 12.0 (76) Western Suburbs colours.svg Western Suburbs 2 7 4 23 0 58
Jim Paterson Second-row 25 14.10 (93) Canberra colours.svg Innisfail 2 6 2 0 0 6
Elton Rasmussen Prop, Second-row 23 15.4 (97) Faxcolours.svg Toowoomba All Whites 2 7 0 1 0 2
Jack Sinclair Lock 24 13.4 (84) Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg Manly-Warringah 1 5 3 0 0 9
Arthur Summons Halfback 25 11.0 (70) Western Suburbs colours.svg Western Suburbs 2 6 1 0 0 3
Ian Walsh Hooker 27 13.6 (85) St. George colours.svg St George 2 5 1 0 0 3

Tour[]

The Australians played nine matches on the tour, winning seven matches and losing the last two.

Saturday 17 June
New Zealand Māori North Sydney colours.svg 13 – 25 Australian colours.svg Australia
[6]
Wednesday 21 June
Wellington Wellington colours.svg 3 – 66 Australian colours.svg Australia
[7]
Basin Reserve, Wellington
Attendance: 707
Friday 23 June
National Coaching School 4 – 9 Australian colours.svg Australia
[8]
Saturday 24 June
West Coast Saintscolours.svg 7 – 27 Australian colours.svg Australia
[9]
Wingham Park, Greymouth
Attendance: 1,682
Tuesday 27 June
Taranaki Sunshine Coast Colours.svg 0 – 34 Australian colours.svg Australia
[10]
Burnside Showgrounds, Hāwera
Attendance: 600

First test[]

Saturday 1 July
New Zealand  12 – 10  Australia
Tries:
Maunga Emery

Goals:
Reg Cooke (2/2)
Field Goals
Gary Phillips 		[11] Tries:
Ken Irvine
Don Parish
Goals:
Don Parish (2/2)
Carlaw Park, Auckland
Attendance: 11,485
Referee: Roland Avery New Zealand
New Zealand
Australia
FB 1 Canterbury colours.svg Gary Phillips
RW 2 Canterbury colours.svg Brian Reidy
RC 3 North Sydney colours.svg George H. Turner
LC 4 Canterbury colours.svg Tom Hadfield
LW 5 Canterbury colours.svg Reg Cooke
FE 6 Saintscolours.svg George Menzies
HB 7 Waikatoleague.png
PR 8 Canterbury colours.svg
HK 9 North Sydney colours.svg Jock Butterfield
PR 10 Canterbury colours.svg Maunga Emery
SR 11 Canterbury colours.svg Don Hammond
SR 12 Canterbury colours.svg Ron Ackland (c)
LF 13 North Sydney colours.svg Mel Cooke
Coach:
New Zealand Des White
FB 1 Western Suburbs colours.svg Don Parish
RW 2 North Sydney colours.svg Ken Irvine
RC 3 St. George colours.svg Reg Gasnier
LC 4 North Sydney colours.svg Brian Carlson (c)
LW 5 St. George colours.svg Eddie Lumsden
FE 6 Balmain colours.svg Arthur Summons
HB 7 Wests Panthers Colours.svg Barry Muir
PR 8 Toowoomba Clydesdales colours.svg Elton Rasmussen
HK 9 St. George colours.svg Ian Walsh
PR 10 New South Wales colours.svg
SR 11 Queensland colours.svg Jim Paterson
SR 12 Parramatta colours.svg Ron Lynch
LF 13 Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg
Coach:
Australia Brian Carlson
Wednesday 5 July
Waikato Waikatoleague.png 8 – 26 Australian colours.svg Australia
[12]
Steele Park, Hamilton
Attendance: 886

Second test[]

Saturday 8 July
New Zealand  8 – 10  Australia
Tries:

Goals:
Reg Cooke (3/3)
Gary Phillips (1/1) 		[13] Tries:
Reg Gasnier (2)
Arthur Summons
Goals:
Don Parish (2/2)
Carlaw Park, Auckland
Attendance: 12,424
Referee: Roland Avery New Zealand
New Zealand
Australia
FB 1 Canterbury colours.svg Gary Phillips
RW 2 Canterbury colours.svg Brian Reidy
RC 3 North Sydney colours.svg George H. Turner
LC 4 Canterbury colours.svg Tom Hadfield
LW 5 Canterbury colours.svg Reg Cooke
FE 6 Saintscolours.svg George Menzies
HB 7 Canterbury colours.svg Bill Snowden
PR 8 Canterbury colours.svg
HK 9 Canterbury colours.svg Tom Reid
PR 10 Canterbury colours.svg Maunga Emery
SR 11 Canterbury colours.svg Don Hammond
SR 12 Canterbury colours.svg Ron Ackland (c)
LF 13 North Sydney colours.svg Mel Cooke
Coach:
New Zealand Des White
FB 1 Western Suburbs colours.svg
RW 2 North Sydney colours.svg Ken Irvine
RC 3 Western Suburbs colours.svg Don Parish
LC 4 St. George colours.svg Reg Gasnier
LW 5 St. George colours.svg Eddie Lumsden
FE 6 Balmain colours.svg Arthur Summons
HB 7 Wests Panthers Colours.svg Barry Muir (c)
PR 8 New South Wales colours.svg
HK 9 St. George colours.svg Ian Walsh
PR 10 Ipswich Colours.svg Dud Beattie
SR 11 Toowoomba Clydesdales colours.svg Elton Rasmussen
SR 12 Queensland colours.svg Jim Paterson
LF 13 Parramatta colours.svg Ron Lynch
Coach:
Australia Brian Carlson
Monday 10 July
Auckland Canterbury colours.svg 13 – 8 Australian colours.svg Australia
[14]
Carlaw Park, Auckland
Attendance: 5,148

References[]

  1. ^ "Kangaroos Tour 1961 - Rugby League Project". www.rugbyleagueproject.org. Retrieved 2020-09-13.
  2. ^ New South Wales Rugby Football League. (1920). "Popular Pair As Managers To N.Z." The Rugby League news. Sydney: N.S.W. Rugby Football League (Vol. 42 No. 11 (12 June 1961)). nla.obj-757061231. Retrieved 17 Jan 2021 – via Trove.
  3. ^ New South Wales Rugby Football League. (1920). "Australia's Team For New Zealand". The Rugby League news. Sydney: N.S.W. Rugby Football League (Vol. 42 No. 12 (17 June 1961)). nla.obj-757066769. Retrieved 17 Jan 2021 – via Trove.
  4. ^ New South Wales Rugby Football League. (1920). "Aust. Team's Record in N.Z." The Rugby League news. Sydney: N.S.W. Rugby Football League (Vol. 42 No. 16 (15 July 1961)). nla.obj-758558770. Retrieved 17 Jan 2021 – via Trove.
  5. ^ E.E.Christensen (1962). "Players' Records in N.Z.". E.E. Christensen's Official Rugby League Yearbook. Sydney: E.E.Christensen (Vol. 16).
  6. ^ 1961 NZ Maori vs Australia – Rugby League Project
  7. ^ 1961 Wellington vs Australia – Rugby League Project
  8. ^ 1961 Coaching School (NZ) vs Australia – Rugby League Project
  9. ^ 1961 West Coast vs Australia – Rugby League Project
  10. ^ 1961 Taranaki vs Australia – Rugby League Project
  11. ^ 1961 New Zealand vs Australia – Rugby League Project
  12. ^ 1961 Waikato vs Australia – Rugby League Project
  13. ^ 1961 New Zealand vs Australia – Rugby League Project
  14. ^ 1961 Auckland vs Australia – Rugby League Project
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