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Wigan 23 Australia 25 - Wednesday 3rd November 1937
Venue: Central Park, Wigan
Competition: Tour Match
Kick Off: 3:00pm
| WiganlBacks:l |
1. Jim Sullivan, 2. Eddie Holder, 3. George Bennett, 4. Gwynne
Davies, 5. Jack Morley, 6. Jack Garvey, 7. Hector Gee |
| WiganlForwards:l |
8. George Banks, 9. Joe Golby, 10. Harold Edwards, 11. Trevor Thomas, 12.
Albert Davis, 13. Ike Jones |
|
WiganlTries:l |
Gwynne Davies 3, Jack Morley 2 |
| WiganlGoals:l |
Jim Sullivan 4 |
| AustralialBacks:l |
1. Laurie Ward, 2. Les Dawson, 3. John Beaton, 4. Bert
Williams, 5. Ross McKinnon, 6. Ernest Norman, 7. Percy Williams |
| AustralialForwards:l |
8. Ray Stehr, 9. Henry Pierce, 10. Les Heidke, 11. Andrew Norval, 12. Eric
Lewis, 13. Wally Prigg |
|
AustralialTries:l |
Wally Prigg 2, Andrew Norval 2, Henry Pierce, Ernest Norman, Les Heidke |
| AustralialGoals:l |
Percy Williams 1, John Beaton 1 |
| Summary:l |
"One of the finest matches ever seen" at
Central Park was how one newspaper described this one. Wigan had defended a
ton of Aussie pressure in the opening quarter but eventually they scored
with Ross McKinnon sending Henry Pierce in for a try. Wigan responded with
George Bennett and Eddie Holder combining to send Gwynne Davies over. Then
Davies sent Jack Morley in for a try that had made it 10-3. Australia hit
back before half time though with a try from Ernie Norman that was converted
by Percy Williams.
So that was 10-8 to Wigan at the break but
Australia re-captured the lead with a try from Andrew Norval who punished a
Wigan error. Wigan hit back when Jack Garvey sent Davies over for his second
but Australia retaliated to that with a try from Wally Prigg, who had some
time off the field injured. The score was now 15-14 to Wigan with missed
conversions not helping Australia.
An error from Laurie Ward at full back gifted
Davies his hat-trick for Wigan and Sullivan's conversion for a 20-14 Wigan
lead looked like it had settled the match with only 8 minutes remaining. But
their was plenty of drama still to come. Les Heidke scored from a deep break
to make it 20-17 after the conversion was missed again. But when Jack Morley
claimed a try to re-establish a 6 point lead with three minutes to go,
surely that was that? Well it wasn't. With a minute to go Australia scored
with another unconverted try from Wally Prigg for 23-20 and then amazingly
snatched the game with a try from the resulting kick off that Andrew Norval
finished off. That made it 23-23 and after converting just one of six tries
previously the Aussies managed to this time find a touchline conversion to
win the game from John Beaton. Late Aussie rallies are not a recent
phenomenon it seems. |
Attendance: 9,800
Referee: Albert Dobson (Featherstone)
|
