by Sean Fagan of RL1908.com

While New Zealand and Australia were regular opponents in the founding years of Rugby League, after only three seasons it was obvious a gulf had developed between the sides. From 1911 to 1948 the New Zealanders were denied a Test match on Australian soil and only saw the Kangaroos tour across the Tasman on three sporadic occassions.

However, throughout this period Queensland and New South Wales toured to New Zealand, and regularly hosted the Kiwis, as rugby league slowly grew in Auckland and in other parts of the country.

It is likely that if not for the continued meeting between New Zealand and the two Australian states, we would not today be able to enjoy seeing the Kiwis in action against the Kangaroos or the Warriors in the NRL.

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The Kiwi tourists to Australia of 1911 were easily beaten in Sydney by NSW in three matches that attracted over 125,000 spectators. The tourists defeated Newcastle by 21-20 before travelling to Brisbane. While the New Zealanders beat the Maroons by two games to one, it was the first time they had lost to both Australian states and it was a reflection of where their standard had fallen. In their final match back in Newcastle the Kiwis defeated Hunter River by 40-8.

The side was not devoid of talent, and four players were invited to tour with the Kangaroos later in the season - George Gillett, Charlie Savory, Frank Woodward and ex-All Black forward ‘Boller' Francis.

The New Zealanders again toured in 1912 playing seven games for four wins (including one over NSW and two against Queensland). After the 1912 season New South Wales became the first Australian representative rugby league side to cross the Tasman Sea.

As most of the top players in the first decade of rugby league were playing in NSW, the Blues side was virtually Test-standard. Twenty-four players toured, the majority of whom had been in the successful Kangaroos of 1911/12 under Chris McKivat. However McKivat, along with the champion Dally Messenger, chose not to tour.

Captained by Newtown's Paddy McCue, the combination was a brilliant one, built around such all-time greats as the Farnsworth brothers, Howard Hallett, Charles ‘Chook' Fraser, ‘Pony' Halloway and Frank Burge. NSW lost only two matches, and it outclassed a New Zealand team 18-10 in what was really an unofficial Test.

The tour opened with a match against Canterbury in Christchurch where a rusty NSW were beaten easily by 28-5. The Blues then snapped into shape defeating Wellington and Taranaki by wide margins, before arriving in Auckland. In the lead-up to the "Test" against the Kiwis, NSW lost to Auckland by 10-3 in a tough encounter before thrashing Rotorua 39-13. The NSW side defeated New Zealand in Auckland by 18-10, before winning their remaining four games by wide margins including gaining revenge over Canterbury and Auckland.

The NSW tour proved financially costly, losing 500 pounds, but was rated a considerable success as a promotional venture. The NSWRL chiefs back in Sydney had to wrestle with a difficult problem during the tour. When Sid Deane was sent off and suspended for the rest of the tour by the NZ authorities there was talk of a player "strike" by the NSW team.

The League's General Committee met and quickly settled the matter by instructing that "the secretary notify the New Zealand League and Managers that NSW must in all matters abide by the decision of the New Zealand League - no matter how much it hurts".

In 1913 the Kiwis returned to Australia and the opening match saw them face NSW in front of 35,000 in Sydney. In a close battle the Blues held on to win by 17-15. NSW won the next two games, before the visitors struck back in the fourth fixture by 17-11. The Kiwis then had great success in Queensland were they won over the Maroons by 39-5, Ipswich 29-12 and Toowoomba 32-6. They also played matches against Northern NSW (in Newcastle) and Orange.

NSW toured New Zealand again in 1913, playing 11 matches and winning the lot. The Blues scored 427 points to 128. While the tourists were away, a second NSW team went to Queensland, winning their two games against the Maroons.

Captained again by Paddy McCue, with many of the 1912 tourists backing up alongside Larry O'Malley and Les Cubitt, the NSW side finished with a record unmatched by any other team that has crossed the Tasman before or since. The visitors were unbeaten, running up huge scores in many of their matches including over Canterbury, Auckland and Wellington. Their two meetings with the NZ Test side were won easily. At Auckland the NSW Blues won by 33-19, and at Wellington in the final match of the tour, it seemed hardly more than a training run with the Kiwis being overwhelmed 58-19.

After the end of the Great War, the New Zealanders sailed to Sydney again in 1919. Their record of four losses to NSW and two to Queensland doesn't reflect their improved playing standard, as most of the games were close tussles. The opening two games against the Blues attracted a total of over 85,000 spectators. The visitors final two tour games were wins in Rockhampton and Toowoomba.

Later in 1919 Australia made its first Test tour of New Zealand. The team's departure was delayed by a waterfront strike, and they only arrived one day before the First Test in Wellington. Sailing across the Tasman on a refurbished cargo ship, the players were forced to sleep on hammocks. Three of the players contracted blood poisoning from the rat and cockroach infested vessel.

Despite the post-war travel difficulties the Australians won the opening Test in Wellington by 44-21. The Australians included Duncan Thompson, Frank Burge, Harold Horder, Charles Fraser, ‘Pony' Halloway, Herb Gilbert and Les Cubitt. In the 2nd Test the locals won by 26-10 before 7000 fans in Christchurch. Australia won the final two Tests in Auckland before large crowds in the rugby league city (a combined total of over 40,000). Another match against Auckland Province saw a crowd of 15,000. Australia won their final three minor games scoring a total of 233 points, with centre Cubitt scoring 17 tries (24 on the tour).

The Kiwis next visit to Australia was in 1921 where they again faired poorly in the big matches. In the opener in Sydney the NSW Blues racked up a huge win by 56-9 which put the tour in deep trouble early. Moving to Brisbane for three games against Queensland, the New Zealanders started well with a 25-12 win. However the Maroons soon found their measure winning by 21-16 and 8-3. The final three matches of the tour saw a loss to Toowoomba, before wins over Wide Bay and Newcastle.

New South Wales embarked on its final tour of New Zealand at the end of the 1923 season. The team's departure was not without incident. The Blues were booked to sail on the Ulimaroa on the Saturday night of the Sydney Premiership Final. The finalists, North Sydney and South Sydney, were both represented in the touring side.

Tall Rabbitoh forward Alf O'Connor, who had been selected for the tour, had a jolting moment in the match when he late-tackled Harold Horder, after Horder had kicked ahead. O'Connor revealed many years later that he quickly explained to referee Tom McMahon that he had slipped in the mud and was unable to stop connecting with Horder. McMahon retorted: "Watch you don't slip off that boat tonight!".

Souths winger Vince Sheehan broke a collarbone in the loss to Norths and had to withdraw from the NSW team. His last minute replacement was team-mate Alec Johnson, who virtually went straight from the ground to the boat. Johnson had toured with the 1913 NSW team, as had fellow tourist Harold Horder. The remarkable Frank Burge who was in the first NSW tourists of 1912 was also making a return trip to New Zealand.

The NSW team which toured NZ in 1923 must rank as one of the finest touring combinations anywhere, ever. Three of the all-time greats - Frank Burge, Jimmy Craig and Harold Horder - were stars of a squad which won all six official matches, most by big margins. A highlight of the tour was an exhibition match in Auckland. The NSW members of the 1921/22 "Australasian" Kangaroos were joined by NZ Kangaroo Bert Laing for a match against the rest of the NSW squad and local Auckland stars. The "Kangaroos" winning by 65-27.

In 1925 New Zealand embarked on its longest tour across the Tasman since Baskerville's team of 1908 played 13 games in Australia on the way home from England. After losing the opening two matches in Sydney to NSW and Universities in close games, the Kiwis won their next game against Newcastle, before beating the Blues in back-to-back matches. A win over Lismore on the way to Queensland left the tourists in good spirits and a successful tour record was in sight.

However, Queensland Rugby League had come of age and the visitors were ambushed wherever they went. They lost to the Maroons by 43-19 in the first game. Even a minor game against Ipswich proved to be nothing but trouble as the Kiwis went down by a point (22-21). An improved second showing against Queensland still wasn't enough and they were beaten by 29-20. A hard-fought match against the Toowoomba Clydesdales produced no relief as the New Zealanders fell 16-14.

They found some respite though back in Sydney with another win over New South Wales, perhaps demonstrating that the seat of power in Australian rugby league was definitely residing north of the Tweed River.

At the end of the 1925 season Queensland made their one and only tour to New Zealand. Many New Zealanders rated this Queensland team to be the best touring side ever to visit their country. The Maroons included Jimmy Craig, Tom Gorman, Vic Armbruster, Herb Steinohrt, Norm Potter, Cec Aynsley, Jim Bennett, Jeff Moores and ‘Nigger' Brown.

The Queenslanders played 11 matches losing only one (with a match against Auckland drawn). They played two games against the New Zealand Test side, losing one by a mere point (24-25 in the opening game of the tour) and winning the other convincingly (35-14). The Maroons also had big wins over West Coast, Canterbury and Otago.

In the 1930s neither NSW or Queensland returned to New Zealand, with Test matches between the nations being partially re-established to some degree. Australia played Tests in New Zealand in 1935 (winning 2-1) and 1937 (1-1). The Kiwis returned across the Tasman in 1930 and 1938 for mixed results, but were again denied any Test matches on Australian soil.

NSW and Queensland continued to play against touring New Zealand teams over the decades that followed. The Blues and the Kiwis last met in Sydney in 1967 before a crowd of 27,048 with the visitors winning by 15-14. This tour also saw the Kiwis play Queensland for the second last time (losing 15-6 to the Maroons). In 1982 there were 12,000 on hand to witness the final game to date between Queensland and New Zealand. Held in Brisbane, the locals won by 31-16.

The tours of the New Zealanders to Australia, and the visits by Queensland and NSW across the Tasman, sustained Kiwi rugby league through its difficult beginnings. Eventually a regular pattern of Tests was restored between Australia and New Zealand. In 1948 the Kiwis played their first Tests in Sydney and Brisbane for almost 40 years - winning the first game.

Increasingly over the remainder of the 20th century the New Zealanders became Australia's main adversary ahead of a slumbering Great Britain. The game in NZ also regularly provided many Australian and English clubs with some fine and outstanding players.

New Zealand made its first foray into Victoria in 1991 when a Test match was held in Melbourne. The Kiwis scored a resounding 24-8 win over Australia before 26,900 at Olympic Park, now home to the Melbourne Storm.

In May 1997, after three-quarters of a century, a Queensland team returned to New Zealand to play one match. An "Origin" Tri-Series was held under the Super League banner featuring teams from rugby league's southern hemisphere strongholds of NSW, Queensland and New Zealand.

The Maroons defeated New Zealand by 26-12 before 18,244 at Ericsson Stadium. The New Zealanders then immediately travelled to Canberra to face New South Wales with a place in the Final up for grabs. In a controversial finish the Blues beat the Men in Black (and grey) by 20-15, after a late match-winning try to the visitors was disallowed.

The inter-action between the rugby league communities on both sides of the Tasman had earlier become full-time with the entry of the New Zealand (Auckland) Warriors into the Australian premiership in 1995.

Over the past 8 seasons the New Zealanders have re-met some old foes including Newcastle (1908-86), Brisbane (1908-67), Hunter (1911), North Queensland (1952-86), Illawarra (Southern Division 1956-67), St George (1963) and Gold Coast (1982).