Looking Back...Great Britain v Australia (2004)

As part of the build up to this year's Rugby League World Cup, we will be looking back at four memorable matches involving Great Britain and England over the course of the last 20 years. Two are triumphs. Two are heartbreaks. 

This one falls in the latter category as we rewind the clock to 2004 and Great Britain's Tri-Nations final defeat to Australia.

So Near Yet So Far...

The oft-trodden path for Great Britain's rugby league team is one of glorious failure and disappointment. The year before the 2004 Tri Nations saw a Kangaroo Tour on British soil. To date, this is the last time that Australians toured here.

Britain lost all three games by a total of just 13 points. The first defeat was the Adrian Morley match. Yes, that match. The one where he got sent off after 12 seconds after poleaxing Robbie Kearns.

It looked as though 12-man Britain were going to pull off a win for the ages with a late Brian Carney try (given that I have mentioned Carney, a proud Irishman, I should point out the team's full name of Great Britain and Ireland). It was not to be as Darren Lockyer denied GB just moments after they regained the lead.

The next two tests saw the same old story. At Hull, Britain matched Australia in the try-scoring stakes, but Craig Fitzgibbon's boot kicked Australia to a series win. There would be no consolation at Huddersfield either. Defeat snatched from the jaw of success once more, with two Australian tries in the last four minutes.

A New Era

Great Britain's head coach for the 2003 series was Australian-born, British passport-holding David Waite. He was known as a patient and calm coach. By the end of this series, Waite was giving more tetchy interviews. He summarised this series quite succinctly: 

He wasn't wrong. Australia's touring team was severely weakened with 13 first team players injured. We say this a lot but this time maybe it was true - we had never had a better to chance to beat Australia in a test series. We blew it.

Whilst another inquest was going on in rugby league, on the morning of that third test, England's rugby union team defeated Australia in the World Cup final. The nation was gripped by the other code. At Huddersfield, in that evening, there was even a chorus (admittedly a small one) of 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot', which, by all accounts was not sung ironically to communicate displeasure at someone attempting a penalty kick. By contrast, the Kangaroo tour had barely registered on the public conscious.

Whilst the England rugby union team enjoyed an open top bus parade through London, a visit to 10 Downing Street to meet the Prime Minister and more knighthoods than rugby league had enjoyed in its history, Britain's rugby league team floundered. We needed a spark. 

So who do you turn to? The answer was Brian Noble. He had overseen great success at Bradford, including winning a clean sweep of trophies in the 2003 season. The policy of appointing a full time coach for Britain was ditched such was the desire to appoint Noble, who was unwilling to move from Bradford at the time.

Noble declared his pride in being appointed to lead the national team and expressed a view that he had some of the best players in the world at his disposal. Noble's bullish optimism was soon to be put to the test in the 2004 Tri Nations - a tournament making its return for the first time since 1999.

Not Again?

You may be forgiven if you think you have read this section earlier on. A recurring nightmare if you will. It had happened again.

Britain were playing in their first match of the Tri Nations series against Australia and the game was on a knife-edge. The game was locked up a 8-8. Paul Sculthorpe had missed a drop goal attempt. So had Sean Long. With less than two minutes to go, a third attempt was being lined up by Andy Farrell, Britain's captain. This was it, surely? Britain were going to turn the tables. We were going to beat the Australians in the last minute, weren't we?

No. Within 60 seconds, Great Britain were stood behind their posts, Farrell and Sculthorpe leading an inquest as to how Britain had lost in the last minute to Australia once more.

In that 60 second, Nathan Hindmarsh charged down Farrell's drop goal attempt and Australia attacked. They went wide and did not set up for the one. Britain were caught cold and Luke Rooney (remember him? Me neither!) finished impressively in the corner.

The City of Manchester Stadium (as it was then known) fell silent, the exception being commentator Mike 'Stevo' Stephenson, informing viewers of Sky Sports that "Australia have done it to Great Britain once again". He was right. This was a pattern that Britain had to break in order to succeed.

After only one competitive game, questions were being asked of new coach Brian Noble. Why is he playing the old guard? After a stunning 2004, what does Danny McGuire have to do to get a chance to start?

Breakthrough!

Noble did make the change. McGuire came into a starting berth to partner Sean Long. Paul Sculthorpe moved into the pack alongside Farrell, rather than being used as a stand off. And you know what? It only went and worked!

The heartbreaking defeat was followed by wins in three consecutive weeks against New Zealand on two occasions and Australia once. This saw Britain not only reach the final but top the league standings.

The highlight of this three-week blitz was a 24-12 win against Australia at the JJB Stadium. Britain sparkled on this November evening. A Stuart Fielden try opened up a 12 point lead at the break. Fielden had been ill in the build up to the match which made the victory especially sweet. 

There had been false dawns before. That moment where you thought that Britain were going to end their ever-increasing wait for a series victory against Australia. In 2004, the wait stood at 32 years. There was one final at Elland Road standing between Britain and ending the hoodoo. You will have heard this phrase a lot if you follow the sport - but truly this time, Britain had never had a better chance.

Crushed

The excitement was building. Was this finally Britain's moment? By breaking the cycle of seven consecutive defeats to Australia, had the psychological barrier been broken down? We were 80 minutes away from finding out.

A capacity crowd of 39,120 packed into Elland Road desperate to find out. Interestingly, head coach Brian Noble brought Iestyn Harris in to a starting jersey with Danny McGuire dropping to the bench. This was the fourth different half back combination in four games (previous matches seeing combinations of Sculthorpe - Long, McGuire - Long and Harris-McGuire).

To date, Harris had played a bit-part role, primarily being used from the bench. With Britain already secure in the final, Harris combined with McGuire in the final round robin match against New Zealand. In the end, Noble thought that dual-code international Harris would offer the more experienced head, compared to the 21-year old Danny McGuire.

Noble had worked with Harris more closely as Bradford head coach. That trust and experience earned him the starting jersey in Britain's biggest match in many years.

It wasn't just Britain who had adopted a mix-and-match approach to their half backs. Scott Hill, Craig Gower, Darren Lockyer and Brett Kimmorley had all played over the course of the series. The latter two were preferred for the final, the first time that they had combined in the series.

As the players lined the tunnel, 'Land of Hope & Glory' rang around Elland Road, supported by a brass band and a choir. Fireworks shot into the cold, night sky and the national anthems were passionately sung. Britain were ready to meet their destiny. Or so we thought. A little over 40 minutes later that dream had been crushed by a ruthless display.

Britain started poorly. An early knock on from Harris was rounded off by the concession of a penalty for interference by Terry Newton, worsened still by being marched back 10 metres for back chat. Lockyer dispatched the penalty and Britain were shaken but standing.

Then came on the onslaught. Britain survived a scare as Matt Sing was inexplicably denied a try by a brilliant Stuart Fielden cover tackle, as he broke down the wing. The reprieve didn't last long, Sing pouncing on a Willie Tonga kick to score the game's first try. Britain were shaking that bit more.

It got worse. Petro Civoniceva put in a crunching shot on Andy Farrell and minutes later, Anthony Minichello finished a flowing Australian move to extend the lead to 14 points. Britain were no longer shaking, they were rocking. Australia were going at a rate of more than a point per minute.

Minutes later, Tonga out-jumped Brian Carney and the lead was 20 points after 18 minutes. The gap between the teams that we believed to be so small was being exposed as a gaping chasm.

Britain had collapsed. A further penalty for offside, worsened by dissent led to another try. Minichello grabbed his second, whilst Britain's defenders grasped at air. Their weaknesses so brutally exposed by their Australian superiors. 

Lockyer was running the show. He effortlessly glided past Paul Wellens and outstripped Carney's attempted cover tackle. It was now 32-0 after 27 minutes. Australia were not just beating the clock but pulling clear of it.

It was an achievement, of sorts, that Britain then managed to avoid conceding for another nine minutes. Until Tonga scored his second by breezing past Martin Gleeson and Carney as though they weren't even there.

The strains of 'Land of Hope and Glory' from the crowd that rung around Elland Road little more than 40 minutes earlier was replaced by a chorus of boos. It wasn't even half time and the team was being jeered. As the half time siren sounded, the chorus was replaced by a cacophony of boos. The British team marched from the field, heads bowed, forlorn, already comfortably beaten.

Before a big game, you cannot help but dream. You wonder how it may play out. You play out your ideal scenario. You picture scoring that late, game-clinching try, before leaping from the ground before your endearing fans who are in turn leaping with delight. Those dreams had been crushed and replaced by a living nightmare. And you still had 40 minutes to go. Those 40 minutes must have felt like a lifetime.

What do you say to a group of players who have had been bettered in such a manner? That was the task facing Brian Noble. The man who had been brought in to take Britain from nearly-men to the men had fallen short just as so many of his predecessors had. What must he have thought, sat in the stands, watching a slow-motion car crash which he could do nothing to stop? Noble laid down a challenge to his players, telling them to produce something special to prevent a complete humiliation.

How did Britain rise to Noble's challenge? They conceded another try within 2 minutes of the restart. Australia's lead had extended to 44 points. After that, Britain did respond with a try of their own just over a minute later. 

These were the last points of the match. The skill of the first half was replaced with a sloppy error-strewn second half. A trickle of British fans had already left but as the game petered out the trickle turned to a stream. 

The full time siren sounded. It confirmed that Australia had won the 2004 Tri Nations title. The reality was that the outcome was beyond all doubt since the 18th minute of the match when Australia's lead stood at four scores.

Had Britain achieved their goal set at half time, to avoid a total humiliation? On one count yes, the second half saw just one try scored each. On another count, no. This was Britain's heaviest ever home defeat, surpassing a 50-12 defeat at Swinton at 1963.

Hooker Danny Buderus commented after the match that he did not believe that Britain had played that badly, more that Australia were superb. Perhaps he was being polite. Yet there was truth to his statement too.

Whilst much of the British attention focused on a collapse of immense proportions, the quality of the Australian performance was overlooked. In over two decades of watching this sport, it was the most complete performance I have ever seen. It was as close to perfection as I have ever seen from a sporting team. The sold-out Elland Road crowd would have thought little of that as they trudged home but they had witnessed a sporting masterclass that November evening.

Darren Lockyer had missed large amounts of the tournament through injury, yet was at his imperious best here. He scored a try with a mazy run, kicked Britain into submission and delivered incisive passes to tear Britain to pieces. 

Buderus' comments sought to highlight this brilliance. And can you blame him? When you deliver a performance of such quality on the biggest stage, you deserve the attention and praise that should follow.

Despite a fun-filled journey and a glorious triumph in topping the Tri Nations table after the round robin stage, Britain had found themselves in the same position that they had been 12 months earlier. Conducting an inquest into another failure at a big tournament.

We may be 17 years on from that day yet the position remains the same. We still wait for that elusive tournament win against Australia. With a World Cup on home soil in autumn 2021, will this finally be the year that the demons are laid to rest?

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Postscript

Many of the highlights of the matches referred to in this piece are available online and the links are below, if you wish to relive any of them.

This is the first in a series of 'Looking Back' posts. We will be reviewing four memorable moments involving England or Great Britain over the last 20 years in the build up to the 2021 World Cup. We promise that the next piece will be more positive!

2003 - GB v Australia First Test (15 minute highlights)
2003 - GB v Australia First Test (Full Match)
2003 - GB v Australia Second Test (Full Match)
2003 - GB v Australia Third Test (Full Match)

2004 - GB v Australia (Match 1 - 10 minute highlights)
2004 - GB v Australia (Match 2 - 10 minute highlights)

The final itself does not appear to be online. Which is a shame or great news, depending on your point of view!