New Zealand at the 1995 Rugby League World Cup
# New Zealand at the 1995 Rugby League World Cup

The 1995 New Zealand rugby league tour of Great Britain was a tour by the New Zealand national rugby league team to compete at the 1995 Rugby League World Cup. New Zealand won Group B of the tournament, before losing to Australia 20-30 in a semi-final.

## Build up

Earlier in the year, New Zealand played two test matches against France, winning one and drawing the other. New Zealand then played a three match test series against Australia, losing all three tests.

## Staff

* Head coach: Frank Endacott
* Assistant coach: Gary Kemble

## Squad

### Final squad

| Player | Games | T | G | FG | Points | Position | Club |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Richie Barnett | 2 | 1 | – | – | 4 | FB/CE | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks |
| Richie Blackmore | 3 | 3 | – | – | 12 | WG/CE | Auckland Warriors |
| Syd Eru | 1 | – | – | – | – | HK | Auckland Warriors |
| Gary Freeman | 1 | – | – | – | – | HB | Penrith Panthers |
| Daryl Halligan | – | – | – | – | – | WG | Canterbury Bulldogs |
| Sean Hoppe | 3 | 2 | – | – | 8 | WG | Auckland Warriors |
| Mark Horo | 3 | – | – | – | – | SR | Western Suburbs Magpies |
| Kevin Iro | 3 | 1 | – | – | 4 | CE | Leeds Rhinos |
| Tony Iro | 3 | 1 | – | – | 4 | SR | Sydney City Roosters |
| Stacey Jones | 3 | – | – | – | – | HB | Auckland Warriors |
| Stephen Kearney | 3 | – | – | – | – | SR | Auckland Warriors |
| Tony Kemp | 3 | 1 | – | – | 4 | FE | South Queensland Crushers |
| John Lomax | 1 | – | – | – | – | PR | Canberra Raiders |
| Jason Lowrie | 3 | – | – | – | – | PR | Sydney City Roosters |
| Gene Ngamu | 3 | – | 1 | – | 2 | FE/HB | Auckland Warriors |
| Hitro Okesene | 3 | 1 | – | – | 4 | PR/HK | Auckland Warriors |
| Henry Paul | 3 | – | – | – | – | FB/FE | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats |
| Quentin Pongia | 3 | – | – | – | – | PR | Canberra Raiders |
| Matthew Ridge (c) | 3 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 25 | FB | Manly Sea Eagles |
| Brent Stuart | – | – | – | – | – | PR | Western Suburbs Magpies |
| John Timu | – | – | – | – | – | CE | Canterbury Bulldogs |
| Brendon Tuuta | – | – | – | – | – | HB/LK | Western Reds |
| Ruben Wiki | 3 | – | – | – | – | CE | Canberra Raiders |
| Jason Williams | 1 | – | – | – | – | WG | Canterbury Bulldogs |

## Fixtures

### Warm up match

Before leaving for the World Cup, the squad played the New Zealand Residents at Ericsson Stadium and defeated them 20-4.

### World Cup Group B

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| New Zealand | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 30 | +17 | 4 | Advanced to knockout stage |
| Tonga | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 52 | 53 | −1 | 1 | |
| Papua New Guinea | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 34 | 50 | −16 | 1 | |

**Tonga**

* 8 October

| New Zealand | 25–24 | Tonga |
| - | - | - |

* Wilderspool Stadium, Warrington Attendance: 8,083

**Papua New Guinea**

* 13 October

| New Zealand | 22–6 | Papua New Guinea |
| - | - | - |

* Knowsley Road, St Helens Attendance: 8,679

### Semi-final

* 22 October

| New Zealand | 20-30 | Australia |
| - | - | - |

* McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield Attendance: 16,608

The match was 20-all after 80 minutes. In extra time Australia scored two tries to win the match.

