2018 New Zealand rugby league tour of England

The 2018 New Zealand rugby league tour of England was a tour by the New Zealand national rugby league team. The tour saw New Zealand play a three match series against and England for the Baskerville Shield. The hosts, England, won the series by two matches to one.

2018 (2018) New Zealand rugby league tour of England  ()
Number of teams	2
Host country	England
Winner	England (2nd title)
Matches played	3
Attendance	76,069 (25,356 per match)
Points scored	102 (34 per match)
Tries scored	17 (5.67 per match)
Top scorer	Shaun Johnson (22)
Top try scorers	Tommy Makinson (3) Ken Maumalo (3)
Tournaments  < 2015

Background

New Zealand and England previously took part in a competitive event in the 2017 Rugby League World Cup, New Zealand lost to Fiji in the quarter-finals, while England made the final, losing to Australia by a score of just 6-0.

New Zealand and England previously played against each other in a mid-season international on 23 June 2018 at Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colorado. England won 36-18.

New Zealand was last in Great Britain for the 2016 Rugby League Four Nations. During that tournament New Zealand defeated England 17-16 in Huddersfield.^[1] They last played a three match test series against England during the 2015 New Zealand rugby league tour of Great Britain, losing the series 2-1.^[2] With the completion of these three tests, New Zealand and England played each other four times in 2018.

Squads

New Zealand

A wider squad was named on 3 September 2018 consisting of the best New Zealand eligible players in the running to play in the upcoming tour.^[3] The final touring squad of 23 players was named on 1 October.^[4]

On 4 October, Corey Harawira-Naera withdrew from the touring 23-man squad due to a groin injury. Agnatius Paasi and Peta Hiku were subsequently added to the squad.^[5]

Ages are as of 27 October 2018, the day of the first test.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Games	Points	Club
Prop	Leeson Ah Mau	(1989-12-20)20 December 1989 (aged 28)	3	0	St. George Illawarra Dragons
Centre	Gerard Beale	(1990-07-18)18 July 1990 (aged 28)	0	0	New Zealand Warriors
Prop, Lock	Adam Blair	(1986-03-20)20 March 1986 (aged 32)	2	0	New Zealand Warriors
Prop	Jesse Bromwich	(1989-05-03)3 May 1989 (aged 29)	3	4	Melbourne Storm
Second-row, Lock	Kenny Bromwich	(1991-09-22)22 September 1991 (aged 27)	3	0	Melbourne Storm
Lock, Second-row	James Fisher-Harris	(1996-01-05)5 January 1996 (aged 22)	2	0	Penrith Panthers
Centre	Peta Hiku	(1992-12-04)4 December 1992 (aged 25)	0	0	New Zealand Warriors
Fullback, Five-eighth	Jahrome Hughes	(1994-10-08)8 October 1994 (aged 24)	0	0	Melbourne Storm
Wing	Jamayne Isaako	(1996-06-05)5 June 1996 (aged 22)	1	0	Brisbane Broncos
Halfback, Five-eighth	Shaun Johnson	(1990-09-09)9 September 1990 (aged 28)	3	22	New Zealand Warriors
Lock, Second-row	Isaac Liu	(1991-04-26)26 April 1991 (aged 27)	3	4	Sydney Roosters
Centre	Joseph Manu	(1996-06-29)29 June 1996 (aged 22)	3	0	Sydney Roosters
Centre	Esan Marsters	(1996-08-17)17 August 1996 (aged 22)	3	4	Wests Tigers
Wing	Ken Maumalo	(1994-07-16)16 July 1994 (aged 24)	3	12	New Zealand Warriors
Halfback	Kodi Nikorima	(1994-04-03)3 April 1994 (aged 24)	3	4	Brisbane Broncos
Prop	Agnatius Paasi	(1991-11-30)30 November 1991 (aged 26)	0	0	New Zealand Warriors
Second-row	Isaiah Papali'i	(1998-09-20)20 September 1998 (aged 20)	1	2	New Zealand Warriors
Second-row	Kevin Proctor	(1989-02-28)28 February 1989 (aged 29)	3	0	Gold Coast Titans
Wing	Jordan Rapana	(1989-08-15)15 August 1989 (aged 29)	2	0	Canberra Raiders
Hooker, Lock	Brandon Smith	(1996-05-31)31 May 1996 (aged 22)	3	0	Melbourne Storm
Second-row	Joseph Tapine	(1994-05-04)4 May 1994 (aged 24)	2	4	Canberra Raiders
Prop, Lock	Martin Taupau	(1990-02-03)3 February 1990 (aged 28)	2	0	Manly Warringah Sea Eagles
Prop	Jared Waerea-Hargreaves	(1989-01-20)20 January 1989 (aged 29)	3	0	Sydney Roosters
Fullback, Wing	Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (captain)	(1995-08-17)17 August 1995 (aged 23)	3	8	Penrith Panthers

Pre-tour matches

13 October 2018	New Zealand	26 – 24	Australia	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland

17 October 2018	England	44 – 6	France	Leigh Sports Village, Leigh

Baskerville Shield

New Zealand announced three matches on tour, all test matches against England.^[6][7]

First test

England	18 – 16	New Zealand
Tries: Connor, Gildart, Tomkins Goals: Connor (3/4)	Report	Tries: Marsters, Watene-Zelezniak Goals: Johnson (4/4)

27 October 2018 14:30 BST (UTC+01)

KCOM Stadium, Hull[8] Attendance: 17,649[9] Referee: Robert Hicks (England)[10]

Team details

FB 1 Jonny Lomax WG 2 Tommy Makinson CE 3 Jake Connor CE 4 Oliver Gildart WG 5 Jermaine McGillvary FE 6 George Williams HB 7 Sam Tomkins PR 15 Tom Burgess HK 9 Josh Hodgson PR 10 James Graham SR 11 John Bateman SR 12 Elliott Whitehead LK 13 Sean O'Loughlin (c) Interchange: BE 8 Chris Hill BE 14 Luke Thompson BE 16 George Burgess BE 17 Daryl Clark Coach: Wayne Bennett FB 1 Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (c) WG 2 Ken Maumalo CE 3 Esan Marsters CE 4 Joseph Manu WG 5 Jordan Rapana FE 6 Shaun Johnson HB 7 Kodi Nikorima PR 8 Jesse Bromwich HK 9 Brandon Smith PR 10 Jared Waerea-Hargreaves SR 11 Kevin Proctor SR 12 Isaac Liu LK 13 James Fisher-Harris Interchange: BE 14 Kenny Bromwich BE 15 Leeson Ah Mau BE 16 Martin Taupau BE 19 Joseph Tapine Coach: Michael Maguire Man of the Match: Elliott Whitehead (England)[11] Touch judges: Chris Kendall (England) Richard Thompson (England) Video referee: Ben Thaler (England)

Notes:

• Oliver Gildart (England) made his Test debut.

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Second test

England	20 – 14	New Zealand
Tries: Makinson (3), Connor Goals: Tomkins (1/1), Connor (1/4)	Report	Tries: Maumalo, Watene-Zelezniak Goals: Johnson (3/3)

4 November 2018 14:30 GMT (UTC+00)

Anfield, Liverpool[8][12][13] Attendance: 26,234[14] Referee: Gerard Sutton (Australia)[15]

Team details

FB 1 Jonny Lomax WG 2 Tommy Makinson CE 3 Jake Connor CE 4 Oliver Gildart WG 5 Jermaine McGillvary FE 6 George Williams HB 7 Sam Tomkins PR 15 Tom Burgess HK 9 Josh Hodgson PR 10 James Graham (c) SR 11 John Bateman SR 12 Elliott Whitehead LK 13 Luke Thompson Interchange: BE 8 Chris Hill BE 14 Adam Milner BE 16 George Burgess BE 17 Daryl Clark Coach: Wayne Bennett FB 1 Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (c) WG 2 Ken Maumalo CE 3 Esan Marsters CE 4 Joseph Manu WG 5 Jordan Rapana FE 6 Shaun Johnson HB 7 Kodi Nikorima PR 8 Jesse Bromwich HK 9 Brandon Smith PR 10 Jared Waerea-Hargreaves SR 11 Kevin Proctor SR 12 Isaac Liu LK 13 Adam Blair Interchange: BE 14 Kenny Bromwich BE 15 Leeson Ah Mau BE 16 Martin Taupau BE 17 James Fisher-Harris Coach: Michael Maguire Man of the Match: Tommy Makinson (England)[16] Touch judges: James Child (England) Liam Moore (England) Video referee: Ben Thaler (England)

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Third test

England	0 – 34	New Zealand
	Report	Tries: Maumalo (2), J. Bromwich, Liu, Nikorima, Tapine Goals: Johnson (4/5), Papali'i (1/1)

11 November 2018 15:15 GMT (UTC+00)

Elland Road, Leeds[8][12] Attendance: 32,186 Referee: Gerard Sutton (Australia)[17]

Team details

FB 1 Jonny Lomax WG 2 Tommy Makinson CE 3 Jake Connor CE 4 Oliver Gildart WG 5 Jermaine McGillvary FE 6 George Williams HB 7 Richie Myler PR 15 Tom Burgess HK 9 Josh Hodgson PR 10 James Graham (c) SR 11 John Bateman SR 12 Elliott Whitehead LK 13 Luke Thompson Interchange: BE 8 Chris Hill BE 14 Adam Milner BE 16 Joe Greenwood BE 17 Stefan Ratchford Coach: Wayne Bennett FB 1 Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (c) WG 2 Ken Maumalo CE 3 Esan Marsters CE 4 Joseph Manu WG 5 Jamayne Isaako FE 6 Shaun Johnson HB 7 Kodi Nikorima PR 8 Jesse Bromwich HK 9 Brandon Smith PR 10 Jared Waerea-Hargreaves SR 11 Kevin Proctor SR 12 Isaac Liu LK 13 Adam Blair Interchange: BE 14 Kenny Bromwich BE 15 Leeson Ah Mau BE 16 Isaiah Papali'i BE 17 Joseph Tapine Coach: Michael Maguire Man of the Match: Kodi Nikorima (New Zealand) Touch judges: James Child (England) Liam Moore (England) Video referee: Phil Bentham (England)

Notes:

• Joe Greenwood (England) made his Test debut, while Isaiah Papali'i made his debut for New Zealand having previously represented Samoa.

References

1. "England to face New Zealand in three-match series in the autumn of 2018". www.rugby-league.com.
2. "Tickets on sale for England v New Zealand 2018 International Series". www.rugby-league.com.
3. "Kiwis and Junior Kiwis Wider Squads Announced". NZRL.co.nz. 3 September 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
4. "Experienced Players Return For Kiwis Campaign". NZRL.co.nz. 1 October 2018.
5. "Paasi withdraws from Tonga squad to join Kiwis". nrl.com. 8 October 2018.
6. "Kiwis announce 2018 tour".
7. "Rugby League Online Ticketing - Web". rugbyleague.tickethour.co.uk.
8. "Kiwis to face England in three-match Series in 2018". Scoop. 23 November 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
9. "Tweet". Twitter. England Rugby League. 27 October 2018.
10. "Hicks to Officiate First Test". rugby-league.com. 23 October 2018. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
11. "Whitehead named man of the match".
12. "Kick-off changes to Autumn International fixtures". rugby-league.com. 7 June 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
13. "England v New Zealand - Fixture amendment". rugby-league.com. 29 August 2018. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
14. "Tweet". Twitter. England Rugby League. 4 November 2018.
15. "Gerard Sutton to officiate second England test". rugby-league.com. 30 October 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
16. "Hat-trick hero Makinson man of the match".
17. "Gerard Sutton to referee final test at Elland Road". rugby-league.com. 6 November 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.