2005 Rugby League Tri-Nations

2005 (2005) Tri-Nations  ()
Number of teams 3
Host country  United Kingdom
Winner  New Zealand (1st title)
Matches played 7
Attendance 155,143 (22,163 per match)
Tries scored 56 (8 per match)
Top scorer Stacey Jones[1] (42)
Top try scorers Jake Webster[1] (5)
Matt Cooper (5)
Clinton Toopi (5)
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The majority of the 2005 Rugby League Tri-Nations was played in Great Britain and Australasia. The final was played between Australia and New Zealand at Elland Road on Saturday 26 November. New Zealand won the match 24-0 and were crowned 2005 Tri-Nations champions, breaking Australia's 27 year undefeated international tournament record.

The tournament was officially known as the 2005 Gillette Tri-Nations due to sponsorship from Gillette.

Contents

Results

Tournament matches

Australia: 1 Anthony Minichiello, 2 Timana Tahu, 3 Brent Tate, 4 Mark Gasnier, 5 Matt King, 6 Darren Lockyer (c), 7 Andrew Johns, 8 Petero Civoniceva, 9 Danny Buderus, 10 Steve Price, 11 Luke O'Donnell, 12 Craig Fitzgibbon, 13 Ben Kennedy
Interchange: 14 Jason Ryles, 15 Andrew Ryan, 16 Trent Waterhouse, 17 Craig Gower, Coach:

New Zealand: 1 Brent Webb, 2 Jake Webster, 3 Paul Whatuira, 4 Clinton Toopi, 5 Manu Vatuvei, 6 Nigel Vagana, 7 Stacey Jones, 8 Paul Rauhihi, 9 Lance Hohaia, 10 Ruben Wiki (c), 11 David Kidwell, 12 Frank Pritchard, 13 Louis Anderson
Interchange: 14 David Faiumu, 15 Roy Asotasi, 16 Nathan Cayless, 17 David Solomona, Coach:

2005-10-15
 New Zealand  38–28  Australia Telstra Stadium, Sydney
Attendance: 28,255[1]
Referee: Steve Ganson

New Zealand 38 (C. Toopi 3, N. Cayless, N. Vangana, B. Webb tries; S. Jones 7 goals) defeated Australia 28 (B. Tate 2, M. Gasnier 2, M. King, A. Johns tries; C. Fitzgibbon, A. Johns goals)

Australia: 1 Anthony Minichiello, 2 Brent Tate, 3 Matt Cooper, 4 Mark Gasnier, 5 Matt King, 6 Darren Lockyer (c), 7 Andrew Johns, 8 Petero Civoniceva, 9 Danny Buderus, 10 Steve Price, 11 Luke O'Donnell, 12 Craig Fitzgibbon, 13 Ben Kennedy
Interchange: 14 Trent Barrett, 15 Jason Ryles, 16 Mark O'Meley, 17 Trent Waterhouse, Coach:

New Zealand: 1 Brent Webb, 2 Jake Webster, 3 Paul Whatuira, 4 Shontayne Hape, 5 Manu Vatuvei, 6 Nigel Vagana, 7 Stacey Jones, 8 Paul Rauhihi, 9 Motu Tony, 10 Ruben Wiki (c), 11 David Kidwell, 12 David Solomona, 13 Louis Anderson
Interchange: 14 David Faiumu, 15 Roy Asotasi, 16 Iafeta Palea’aesina, 17 Tony Puletua

2005-10-21
 Australia  28–26  New Zealand Ericsson Stadium, Auckland
Attendance: 15,400[1]

Australia 32 (D. Lockyer 2, M. Cooper 2, M. Gasnier, A. Minichiello tries; C. Fitzgibbon 2 goals) defeated New Zealand 16 (J. Webster 2, D. Faiumu, N. Vagana, M. Tony tries; S. Jones 3 goals)

2005-10-29
 New Zealand  42–26  Great Britain Loftus Road, London
Attendance: 15,568[1]

Australia: 1 Anthony Minichiello, 2 Matt King, 3 Mark Gasnier, 4 Matt Cooper, 5 Brent Tate, 6 Darren Lockyer (c), 7 Scott Prince, 8 Petero Civoniceva, 9 Danny Buderus, 10 Steve Price, 11 Luke O'Donnell, 12 Craig Fitzgibbon, 13 Ben Kennedy
Interchange: 14 Trent Barrett, 15 Jason Ryles, 16 Mark O'Meley, 17 Willie Mason

Great Britain: 1 Paul Wellens, Brian Carney, Martin Gleeson, Keith Senior, Leon Pryce, Iestyn Harris, Paul Deacon, Stuart Fielden, Keiron Cunningham, Adrian Morley, Paul Johnson, Jamie Peacock (c), Kevin Sinfield
Interchange: 14 Mickey Higham, 15 Jamie Thackray, 16 Lee Gilmour, 17 Gareth Ellis

2005-11-05
 Australia  20–6  Great Britain JJB Stadium, Wigan
Attendance: 25,004[1]
Referee: Tim Mander

Australia 20 (M. Cooper 2, A. Minichiello tries; C. Fitzgibbon 4 goals) defeated Great Britain 6 (A. Morley try; K. Sinfield goal)

2005-11-12
 Great Britain  38–12  New Zealand Galpharm Stadium, Huddersfield
Attendance: 19,232[1]

Australia were without their captain Darren Lockyer for this match and the remainder of the tournament after he injured his foot at training.[2]

Australia: 1 Anthony Minichiello, 2 Matt King, 3 Matt Cooper, 4 Mark Gasnier, 5 Brent Tate, 6 Trent Barrett, 7 Craig Gower, 8 Petero Civoniceva, 9 Danny Buderus, 10 Jason Ryles, 11 Luke O'Donnell, 12 Craig Fitzgibbon, 13 Ben Kennedy
Interchange: 14 Scott Prince, 15 Mark O'Meley, 16 Willie Mason, 17 Trent Waterhouse, 18 Craig Wing

Great Britain: 1 Leon Pryce, 2 Brian Carney, 3 Martin Gleeson, 4 Keith Senior, 5 Gareth Raynor, 6 Iestyn Harris, 7 Richard Horne, 8 Stuart Fielden, 9 Keiron Cunningham, 10 Adrian Morley, 11 Jamie Peacock, 12 Paul Johnson, 13 Kevin Sinfield
Interchange: 14 Mick Higham, 15 Lee Gilmour, 16 Jamie Thackray, 17 Gareth Ellis

2005-11-19
 Australia  26–14  Great Britain KC Stadium, Hull
Attendance: 25,150[1]
Referee: Steve Ganson

Australia 26 (M. Cooper, M. O'Meley, B. Tate, M. Gasnier tries; C. Fitzgibbon 5 goals) defeated Great Britain 14 (B. Carney, R. Horne tries; I. Harris 3 goals)

Tournament standings

Team Played Won Drew Lost For Against Difference Points
 Australia 4 3 0 1 102 84 +18 6
 New Zealand 4 2 0 2 118 120 −2 4
 Great Britain 4 1 0 3 84 100 −16 2

Final

Saturday, 26 November New Zealand  24–0  Australia Elland Road, Leeds[3]
Attendance: 26,534 [1]
Referee/s: Steve Ganson
Man of the Match: Ruben Wiki[4]
Tries: Whatuira, Vatuvei (2), Webb

Goals: Jones (4)

Australia: (0) 0
Anthony Minichiello, Matt King, Mark Gasnier, Matt Cooper, Brent Tate, Trent Barrett, Craig Gower, Petero Civoniceva, Danny Buderus, Jason Ryles, Luke O'Donnell, Craig Fitzgibbon, Ben Kennedy.
Replacements: Craig Wing, Willie Mason, Mark O'Meley, Steve Price.
Coach: Wayne Bennett

New Zealand: (16) 24
Brent Webb, Webster, Paul Whatuira, Clinton Toopi, Manu Vatuvei, Nigel Vagana, Stacy Jones, Paul Rauhihi, Motu Tony, Ruben Wiki, David Kidwell, Anderson, Shontayne Hape.
Replacements: David Faiumu, Roy Asotasi, Solomona, Ali Lauitiitii.
Coach: Brian McClennan

The historic win by the Kiwis over an Australian 17 containing only 3 Queensland players and one player from the previous month's 2005 NRL grand final put an end to the Kangaroos' dominance in international rugby league. It was the first time Australia, hot favourites for the match, had failed to win a series or tournament since 1978. It was also the first time New Zealand had beaten their rivals twice in a year since 1953.
Australian coach Wayne Bennett resigned from the national coaching post just over a week later.[5]

Non-series tests

During the series, Australia and New Zealand played additional Tests against France.

Australia: 1 Anthony Minichiello, 2 Eric Grothe, 3 Mark Gasnier, 4 Matt Cooper, 5 Brent Tate, 6 Scott Prince, 7 Craig Gower (c), 8 Jason Ryles, 9 Craig Wing, 10 Mark O'Meley, 11 Ben Creagh, 12 Willie Mason, 13 Trent Waterhouse
Interchange: 14 Steve Price, 15 Petero Civoniceva, 16 Andrew Ryan, 17 Matt King

France: 1 Renaud Guigue, 2 Frederic Zitter, 3 Christophe Moly, 4 Jerome Hermet, 5 Olivier Charles, 6 Laurent Frayssinous, 7 Julien Rinaldi, 8 David Ferriol, 9 David Berthezene, 10 Jerome Guisset, 11 Aurelien Cologni, 12 Jamal Fakir, 13 Gregory Mounis
Interchange: 14 Maxime Greseque, 15 Adel Fellous, 16 Jean Christophe Borlin, 17. Sebastien Raguin

2005-11-11
 France  12–44  Australia Stade Aime Giral, Perpignan
Attendance: 7,913
Referee: Ashley Klein

For this match, Craig Gower was given the honour of captaining Australia for the first time.[6]

Australia 44 (A Minichiello 2, T Waterhouse 2, M Cooper, S Prince, C Gower, W Mason tries; S Prince 6 goals) defeated France 12 (L Frayssinous, M Gresqueu tries; L Frayssinous 2 goals)

2005-11-18
 France  22–38  New Zealand Stade Ernest Wellon, Toulouse
Attendance: 12,500

Other Games

New Zealand played a midweek match against England "A" which did not count as a test match. Halftime was 12-all.

2005-11-07
 England  22-30  New Zealand Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Tri-Nations 2005". Rugby League Project. http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/competitions/Tri-Nations_2005.html. Retrieved 2008-12-05. 
  2. ^ Hadfield, Dave (8 November 2005). "Australia's optimism dented by Lockyer fall". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/rugby-league/australias-optimism-dented-by-lockyer-fall-6143224.html. Retrieved 19 November 2011. 
  3. ^ "Final: Kiwis v Australia". 2005 Gillette Tri Nations. nzrl.co.nz. http://www.nzrl.co.nz/past-tournaments/2005-gillette-tri-nations/final-kiwis-v-australia.aspx. Retrieved 19 November 2011. 
  4. ^ Richards, Huw (27 November 2005). "New Zealand dismantles Australia's dynasty, 24-0". The New York Times (USA: The New York Times Company). http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/sports/27iht-league.html. Retrieved 6 March 2011. 
  5. ^ Williams, Daniel (2005-12-12). "Keep It Simple, Sport". Time (Time Inc.). http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1140157,00.html. Retrieved 2010-01-15. 
  6. ^ Annual Report 2005 - Australian Rugby League

Further reading

External links

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