Kangaroos vs Great Britain 1988 1st Test

[@mattgaskell945]

GB had many great players around this time, & with a bit more luck they could have won this series. Ward, Hanley, Gregory etc. Great players missing as well like Schofield, Hampson, Lydon, Crooks, Platt and Edwards. RL is not the same in GB now as it was in these days.

[@keats6431]

It wasn't really a stomp Murray, it was just a gentle reminder to release the tackled player! The Aussie player didn't seem to mind.

[@guodade2239]

I didnʼt realise that 51:44 was already the start of Sterlingʼs career-ending succession of shoulder injuries. The fact that he played on until the shoulder was more seriously damaged during the third Test suggests that Australia did not want to recognise the possibility it could be as serious as it proved in the long-term.

[@darren2514fv]

The third Ashes series to have a French referee the referees in the Ashes in that time were either from France or New Zealand while tests against New Zealand and France were usually from Australia all battle hardened from refereeing in Sydney and Brisbane

[@darren2514fv]

The poor attendances led to all 3 tests in 1992 being played under lights in the evenings

[@darren2514fv]

Peter Sterling would have gone on the 1990 Kangaroo Tour had it not been for bad shoulder injuries and that 3rd Kangaroo Tour in 1990 was the motivation for Sterling to keep playing despite the series of bad shoulder injuries in 2 years the most recent in 1990 not only prevented Sterling from going on that third record Kangaroo tour alongside Mal Meninga but also very importantly ended his playing career while Brett Kenny was still playing at 29 was young enough to play in his 3rd Kangaroo tour had he carried on after 1987 to make himself available for representative Rugby for NSW and Australia

[@Holden308]

Great Britain were supposed to be cannon fodder for Australia in this match, especially after the hidings they copped in their previous two tour matches against the unfancied Northern Division (country NSW) rep side (36-12) and the reigning NSWRL premiers Manly (30-0) who on that night were missing half their regular first grade side either through injury or being rested for this game. But the Lions were actually unlucky not to win this game. They played a lot better than expected.

[@PeachTristan]

@J G This is a video about rugby league 😂

[@PeachTristan]

They gave it to Autralia pretty good in this game but I think their backline let them down in defence

[@Baskerville22]

From the Australian team make-up, i'd guess that QLD won the State of Origin series that year

[@guodade2239]

Indeed. Queensland, rated long odds to win before the series began, won all three matches by at least eight points. They would repeat the dose in 1989 by an average of eighteen points (vis-à-vis an average of 11.3 points in 1988) but in 1990 New South Wales - beginning their best era since Origin began - won the series.

[@user-wc5gi2lz3n]

^ this - that's why it's such an average Australian side. They had to have 50% token Queenslanders otherwise QRL would complain. This was a 2nd XIII at best, should have beaten GB by 30 points at least.

[@Baskerville22]

@@user-wc5gi2lz3n Queensland has proven to have the majority of Australia's best League players over a long period.....

[@murray7584]

At 1:17:20 the English player stomped on the Aussie players leg.

[@PeachTristan]

well spotted! 😯

[@tobinsarttrading1733]

If the Brits just concentrated on playing instead of wasting their time taking cheap shots at men who have since they were children playing in the Juniors, been belted by thugs trying to take then out of the game! The fact they are in the Australian team means it just doesn’t work! But still the Brits do it and still they lose!