France 13–13 Great Britain — World Cup Table, 1954 Rugby League World Cup

7 Nov 1954 · Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse, France · Attendance: N/A

Data last verified: 11 August 2026.

1954 Rugby League World Cup ▾

World Cup Table, 1954 Rugby League World Cup: France 13–13 Great Britain, at Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse, France on 7 Nov 1954.

Scorers

FranceTries: Contrastin; — further scorer(s) not identified in sources found (needed to reconcile with the 13-point total; conflicting sources suggest either a second Contrastin try or a try by Joseph Krawczyk, neither confirmed with confidence)
Goals: Aubert (2)
Great BritainTries: Brown; Helme; Rose
Goals: Ledgard (2)

Teams

FranceGreat Britain
1Puig Aubert (Captain)FullbackJim Ledgard1
2Raymond ContrastinWingDavid Rose2
3Jacques MerqueyCentrePhil Jackson3
4Antoine JiminezCentreAlbert Naughton4
5Vincent CantoniWingMick Sullivan5
6Gilbert BenausseFive-eighthGordon Brown6
7Joseph CrespoHalfbackGerry Helme7
8Joseph KrawzykPropJohn Thorley8
9Jean AudoubertHookerSam Smith9
10Francois RinaldiPropRobert Coverdale10
11Guy DelayeSecond RowBasil Watts11
12Jean PambrunSecond RowDon Robinson12
13Roger GuilhemLockDave Valentine (Captain)13
Rene Duffort / Jean DuhauCoachGideon Shaw

Match officials

RefereeCharles Appleton
Touch judges— not identified in sources found
Player of the match— not identified in sources found

Match report

Going into the tournament, France were widely regarded as the strongest side in the world, having dominated European rugby league through the 1950s with a fast, open style of play built around legendary fullback Puig Aubert. Great Britain, by contrast, travelled with what many contemporary commentators described as effectively a second-string squad, since several leading English clubs were reluctant to release star players for the new, unproven competition. Great Britain opened with a surprise 28-13 win over Australia at Lyon, while France crushed New Zealand 22-13 in the tournament's opening match. The France v Great Britain fixture in Toulouse on 7 November was therefore a heavyweight, effectively pool-deciding clash between the two form teams, played in front of the largest crowd the sport had drawn in France. The match was tight throughout: Great Britain held a narrow half-time lead, and the sides traded further scores in the second half to finish locked at 13-13. Try-scorers were Raymond Contrastin for France, and Gordon Brown, Gerry Helme and David Rose for Great Britain, with Puig Aubert and Jim Ledgard each converting two goals. The draw meant France and Great Britain both finished the group stage level on points at the top of the table; Great Britain progressed to the final by virtue of a superior points difference. Great Britain then beat France for a second time, 16-12, in the final at the Parc des Princes on 13 November before 30,368 spectators, to become the first Rugby League World Cup champions — a result regarded as one of the great upsets in the sport's history given the pre-tournament expectations. The Toulouse draw is remembered as the match that showed Great Britain's supposed second team could live with, and momentarily overcome, the dominant hosts, foreshadowing the final result six days later.

Sourcing caveat: France's confirmed try scorer (Contrastin) plus Aubert's two goals total 7 points, 6 short of the confirmed 13-point final score. Sources gave conflicting accounts of a second/third French try: some renderings credited a second Contrastin try, others credited Joseph Krawczyk (whose own biography records a try in this exact fixture); the identity and number of the remaining scorer(s) could not be resolved with confidence between these candidates, so the gap is flagged rather than resolved by picking one unverified option.

Previous World Cup meetings

Sources

← 1954 Rugby League World Cup — full match archive

← 1954 Rugby League World Cup