2002 New Zealand rugby league tour of Great Britain and France

The 2002 New Zealand rugby league tour of Great Britain and France was a tour by the New Zealand national rugby league team. The New Zealand Kiwis drew the series 1-all against Great Britain and also defeated Wales and France.

Background

This was the Kiwis first tour of Great Britain since the 2000 World Cup, the Kangaroos having toured Great Britain the previous year.

The original squad named in September included Nathan Cayless, Craig Smith and Tevita Vaikona who all later had to withdraw from the final squad.

Before the tour started the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark, held an official reception for the team at the Beehive. It was the first New Zealand rugby league tour to receive an official farewell from a Prime Minister in Parliament.

The tour was opened against Hull FC at The Boulevard, the same ground had hosted the first Test matched played by the 1907 New Zealand team. This match was the last international played at the ground, while the 1907 team had played in the first.

Motu Tony broke his hand in the match against England A and was ruled out of the rest of the tour. Steve Clark refereed all three Test matches against Great Britain.

Former Kiwis player Sean Hoppe, who had not represented his country since 1999, was given the honour of captaining St Helens RLFC in a tour match against the Kiwis. The match was meant to be his last before retirement however he was later called into the touring squad due to injuries and his final two matches were test matches against Great Britain and France. Hoppe was called up over Lesley Vainikolo who was also considered as a replacement after injuries to several backs including Motu Tony and Clinton Toopi.

In the end Great Britain tied the series, taking the inaugural Baskerville Shield as hosts. The third test match was Great Britain's first win over New Zealand since 1993.

Squad

Kiwis captain Nathan Cayless withdrew due to suspension and was replaced by Andrew Lomu while Willie Talau required surgery and was unavailable. After the Australia Test both Lomu and Matt Utai were withdrawn by their clubs for off-season surgery. On arriving in England, English based players Craig Smith and Tevita Vaikona were ruled out due to injury. Later Motu Tony and Robbie Paul were sidelined with injuries and in France Richard Swain left to sign a deal with the Broncos and Stephen Kearney flew home due to a family illness.

Clinton Toopi broke his hand in a scuffle with Nigel Vagana during a team drinking session after the second test. Freeman and team management initially tried to cover up the incident, claiming the injury occurred during the match, before media found out and had a field day.

Name	Australia	Wales	GB	GB	GB	France	Games	Tries	Goals	FGs	Points	Club
Monty Betham		BE	BE	BE	LK		4	0	0	0	0	New Zealand Warriors
Jason Cayless						PR	1	0	0	0	0	Sydney Roosters
Henry Fa'afili	WG	WG	WG	WG	WG	WG	6	3	0	0	12	New Zealand Warriors
Awen Guttenbeil	BE	SR	LK	LK	SR	BE	6	0	0	0	0	New Zealand Warriors
Lance Hohaia	FE	FE	FE	FE	FE	FE	6	1	7	0	18	New Zealand Warriors
Sean Hoppe					WG	CE	2	0	0	0	0	St Helens RLFC
Stacey Jones (c)	HB	HB	HB	HB	HB	HB	6	6	1	0	26	New Zealand Warriors
Stephen Kearney	LK	LK	SR	SR			4	1	0	0	4	Melbourne Storm
Ali Lauitiiti	SR	SR	SR	BE	BE	SR	6	1	0	0	4	New Zealand Warriors
Andrew Lomu	BE						1	0	0	0	0	Sydney Roosters
Francis Meli		WG	WG	WG	CE	WG	5	4	0	0	16	New Zealand Warriors
Robbie Paul		FB	FB	FB		HK	4	1	0	0	4	Bradford Bulls
Tony Puletua		BE	BE	BE	BE		4	0	0	0	0	Penrith Panthers
Paul Rauhihi	PR	PR	PR	PR	PR	PR	6	0	0	0	0	Bulldogs
Jerry Seuseu	PR	PR	PR	PR	PR	BE	6	1	0	0	4	New Zealand Warriors
Michael Smith						SR	1	0	0	0	0	Castleford Tigers
David Solomona	BE	BE	BE	BE		BE	5	0	0	0	0	Parramatta Eels
Richard Swain	HK	HK	HK	HK	HK		5	2	14	0	36	Melbourne Storm
Logan Swann		BE	BE	BE	BE	BE	5	2	0	0	8	New Zealand Warriors
Motu Tony	BE						1	0	0	0	0	New Zealand Warriors
Clinton Toopi	CE		CE	CE			3	1	0	0	4	New Zealand Warriors
Matt Utai	WG						1	1	0	0	4	Bulldogs
David Vaealiki	FB				FB	FB	3	1	0	0	4	Parramatta Eels
Nigel Vagana	CE	CE	CE	CE	CE	CE	6	4	0	0	16	Bulldogs
Ruben Wiki	SR	CE		SR	SR	LK	5	1	0	0	4	Canberra Raiders

• Coach: Gary Freeman

Fixtures

The New Zealand side played a total of five test matches while on their European tour and one test in New Zealand before leaving.

Henry Fa'afili scored three tries in the 30-16 first test win over Great Britain at Ewood Park, the first Kiwis hat-trick against the Lions in 97 matches dating back to 1908. His tries all came in the second spell as the Kiwis rallied from a 10-6 halftime deficit to win comfortably.

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Attendance	Report
12 October 2002	Australia	WestpacTrust Stadium, Wellington	Lost	24-32	25,015	[1]
22 October 2002	Hull	The Boulevard, Hull	Won	28-11
25 October 2002	St. Helens	Knowsley Road, St Helens	Won	38-26
30 October 2002	England A	Griffin Park, Brentford	Won	34-12
3 November 2002	Wales	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	Won	50-22	8,746	[2]
9 November 2002	Great Britain	Ewood Park, Blackburn	Won	30-16	16,654	[3]
16 November 2002	Great Britain	Alfred McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield	Drew	14-14	23,604	[4]
23 November 2002	Great Britain	JJB Stadium, Wigan	Lost	10-16	22,247	[5]
30 November 2002	France	Stade Aimé Giral, Perpignan	Won	22-14	6,500	[6]

Aftermath

New Zealand halfback Stacey Jones won the George Smith Medal as player of the series against Great Britain. The tour was Freeman's last as head coach. In 2003 Daniel Anderson was named as the new Kiwis coach.