2004 RUGBY LEAGUE TRI-NATIONS OVERVIEW
Host Nation – Great Britain with one game co-hosted by New Zealand
Number of Teams – 3
Highest Crowd – 39,200 Leeds, England (Record crowd for TN game in UK & Sellout)
Average Crowd – 26,053
Total Crowd – 182,368
2004 Tri-Nations Snapshot – The Tri-Nations series was restarted in 2004 in place of the World Cup. The format had changed from the 1999 series with teams playing each other twice. The first game kicked off in Auckland with Australia and New Zealand drawing the game 16 all. The games in the UK were well attended. In front of a packed house at Wigan, Great Britain defeated Australia 24 -12. The following week Great Britain scraped home against New Zealand at Hull to secure a spot in the final. In the week leading up to the final the UK media had been talking up Great Britain’s chances of winning the series. In front of a sell-out crowd at Elland Road Leeds, Great Britain fell apart and could not live up to the hype when they were humiliated by Australia 44 -4.
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2004 TRI-NATIONS POOL ROUNDS
Game 1: Oct 16th Australia 16 – New Zealand 16, Location – North Harbour Stadium Auckland, New Zealand, Crowd – 19,118
Game 2: Oct 23rd Australia 32 – New Zealand 12, Location – Loftus Road, London, England, Crowd – 16,725
Game 3: Oct 30th Australia 12 – Great Britain 8, Location – Manchester Stadium, Manchester, England, Crowd – 38,572 (Sellout)
Game 4: Nov 6th Great Britain 22 – New Zealand 12, Location – Galpharm Stadium, Huddersfield, England, Crowd – 20,372 (Sellout)
Game 5: Nov 13th Great Britain 24 – Australia 12, Location – JJB Stadium, Wigan, England, Crowd – 25,004 (Sellout)
Game 6: Nov 20th Great Britain 26 – New Zealand 24, Location – KC Stadium, Hull, England, Crowd – 23,377 (Sellout)
Final Table
|
Team
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
F
|
A
|
PTS
|
|
Great Britain
|
4
|
3
|
0
|
1
|
80
|
60
|
6
|
|
Australia
|
4
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
72
|
60
|
5
|
|
New Zealand
|
4
|
0
|
1
|
3
|
64
|
95
|
1
|
2004 Tri-Nations Final
Nov 13th Australia 44 – Great Britain 4, Location – Elland Road, Leeds, England, Crowd – 39,200
(Record crowd for TN game in UK & Sellout)
Tri-Nations Champions: Australia
