Final
Australia: Eric Simms; Lionel Williamson, John Cootes, Paul Sait, Mark Harris; Bob Fulton, Billy Smith; John O'Neill, Ron Turner, Bob O'Reilly, Bob McCarthy, Ron Costello, Ron Coote (c); Ray Branighan, Elwyn Walters.
Coach: Harry Bath
Great Britain: Ray Dutton; Alan Smith, Syd Hynes, Frank Myler (c), John Atkinson; Mick Shoebottom, Keith Hepworth; Dennis Hartley, Tony Fisher, Cliff Watson, Jim Thompson, Doug Laughton, Malcolm "Mal" Reilly; Chris Hesketh, Bob Haigh.
Coach: John Whiteley
| 8 November |
Great Britain | 7–12 | Australia | Headingley, Leeds Attendance: 18,776 Referee: Fred Lindop (Great Britain) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
The final, which would become known as the 'Battle of Headingly', went completely against expectations. Britain failed to play any decent football despite overwhelming possession. The Kangaroos led 5-4 at half-time with a try to Australian three-quarter, Father John Cootes. They went on to utilise their meagre chances to the full, running out 12-7 victors. The game itself was an extended punch-up. The only surprise was that it took 79 minutes before anyone was sent off. Two sacrificial lambs, Billy Smith of Australia and Sid Hynes of Britain, were sent off the field in the last minute for what had been going unpunished throughout the game.
Read more about this topic: 1970 Rugby League World Cup
Famous quotes containing the word final:
“Man, her last work, who seemed so fair,
Such splendid purpose in his eyes,
Who rolled the psalm to wintry skies,
Who built him fanes of fruitless prayer,
Who trusted God was love indeed
And love Creation’s final law—
Though Nature, red in tooth and claw
With ravine, shrieked against his creed—”
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)
“The Germans are always too late. They are late, like music, which is always the last of the arts to express a world condition,—when that world condition is already in its final stages. They are abstract and mystical.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)
“So often, as the septuagenarian reflects on life’s rewards, we hear that, “in the final analysis” of money, power, prestige, and marriage, fathering alone was what “mattered.””
—Kyle D. Pruett (20th century)