1968 Rugby League World Cup
4th Rugby League World Cup tournament / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 1968 Rugby League World Cup was the fourth World Cup for men’s national teams and was held between 25 May and 10 June and for the first time co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. Australia were the Champions after they defeated France in the final.
1968 (1968) World Cup () | |
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Number of teams | 4 |
Host countries | Australia New Zealand |
Winner | Australia (2nd title) |
Matches played | 7 |
Attendance | 220,683 (31,526 per match) |
Points scored | 227 (32.43 per match) |
Top scorer | Eric Simms (56) |
Top try scorers | Lionel Williamson (4) Ron Coote (4) Clive Sullivan (4) |
For the first time a final to determine the World Cup was specifically pre-arranged (previous finals having only been used when teams finished level on points) and the tournament made a profit for the first time.[citation needed]
The 1968 World Cup was the first to be played under limited tackles rules, the number then being four tackles. The round 1 match between Great Britain and Australia attracted an attendance of 62,256, the highest for a World Cup match until 1992.[1] The final was held at the Sydney Cricket Ground; a crowd of 54,290 watched Australia defeat France.[1] The stars of the Australian team in the tournament were skipper Johnny Raper, second-rower Ron Coote, who scored spectacular tries in each and every game, and the dead-shot kicker Eric Simms, who harvested a record 25 goals (50 points).