Australia’s return to the UK at the end of the season for the first Ashes series in 22 years has been hailed as a landmark event for international rugby league. But the three-week, three-Test visit is a far cry from the full-scale Kangaroo and Lions tours of yesteryear, which featured packed schedules of midweek and weekend matches against club and representative sides.
Great Britain last toured Australia in earnest in 1992, playing 10 matches. Alongside a memorable Ashes series won 2-1 by the hosts, the Lions lined up against rep combinations Queensland Residents and NSW Country, and premiership teams Canberra, Illawarra, Parramatta, Newcastle and Gold Coast.
The tourists’ only non-Test defeat was to the struggling Eels, an iconic encounter recalled as much for a pre-match staged event as the shock 22-16 result at Parramatta Stadium.
“I remember a lot about the game, in particular the race between Martin Offiah and Lee Oudenryn, the noise of the crowd – and it was the biggest crowd I’d played in front of at that stage of my career,” Michael Buettner, then an 18-year-old centre with only eight first-grade games under his belt, recalls for Big League.
“They were very vocal, and the fact that we were the only team to beat the Great Britain touring side (outside of the Test matches).”
Arguably a more indelible part of rugby league folklore than the game itself, megastar Wigan winger ‘Chariots’ Offiah and rookie Parramatta flyer Oudenryn faced off in a goal-line to goal-line sprint race before kick-off.
Oudenryn famously streaked ahead of Offiah – widely regarded as the fastest man in rugby league – early and held onto his lead to set the boilover tone for the night.
Rumours persisted for decades that Offiah had thrown the race amid a betting plunge on five-gamer Oudenryn by his Lions teammates – but the flamboyant Brit set the record straight on Fox League’s Face to Face recently.
“In my eyes, he got the jump on me and then I was trying to come back at him,” Offiah explained.
“There was no lanes, it was just a free-for-all so he smartly tried to come across me. I said I lost that race fair and square.
“There was lots of talk I blew the race … if they did (bet on Oudenryn), they didn’t tell me about it.”
Parramatta, coached by club legend Mick Cronin, was running 14th at the halfway mark of the NSWRL competition and rated little chance of toppling a Test-strength Great Britain line-up.
Young outside backs Oudenryn and Scott Mahon tested the visitors early, however, and the Eels hit the front when Garry Connolly spilled Kiwi halfback Stu Galbraith’s bomb, allowing veteran lock Mark Laurie to plunge over.
The Lions responded when halfback Shaun Edwards backed up a break from lock Phil Clarke, but Buettner struck to give the Eels a 12-6 halftime advantage after brilliant lead-up work from skipper Brett Kenny and Danny Crnkovich.
“Six months earlier I was captaining the Australian Schoolboys side against Great Britain in England, so it was amazing how quickly my career had progressed,” Buettner, who also slotted three goals, continues.
“It was actually the first time I’d scored a try for the first-grade side. So there was a lot of significant moments in that game, and I was fortunate enough to play with the great Brett Kenny, so again that was a highlight – to learn as much as I could from a player like that early in my career.”
Garry Schofield-led Great Britain clicked after the break with Offiah producing a four-minute double – the second seeing him outlast Oudenryn on a redemptive 50-metre dash to the line.
But after some brilliant scrambling and desperate goal-line defence kept the Eels in the game, more magic from 31-year-old champion Kenny – a thorn in Great Britain’s side on the undefeated 1982 and ’86 Kangaroo Tours – created a runaway try for Mahon and an 18-16 lead.
A tenacious solo effort from standout Galbraith sealed the victory in front of the 18,220-strong crowd.
It would prove a rare 1992 highlight for the club: Parramatta won just two of their remaining 11 premiership matches to finish second-last.
The Lions, meanwhile, trounced the finals-bound Knights 22-0 four days later, before a team featuring all 13 of the starters that played against the Eels powered to a stunning 33-10 second-Test win in Melbourne, with Schofield in untouchable form.
The Ashes remained in Australia as a vintage performance from Mal Meninga spearheaded a 16-10 triumph in a classic decider at Lang Park.
