Great Britain 10–3 Australia — World Cup Table, 1960 Rugby League World Cup
8 Oct 1960 · Odsal Stadium, Bradford, England · Attendance: 33,023Highest-attended match of the tournament
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
World Cup Table, 1960 Rugby League World Cup: Great Britain 10–3 Australia, at Odsal Stadium, Bradford, England on 8 Oct 1960.
Scorers
| Great Britain | Tries: Boston; Sullivan Goals: Rhodes (2) |
| Australia | Tries: Carlson |
Teams
| Great Britain | Australia | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Austin Rhodes | Fullback | Keith Barnes (Captain) | 1 |
| 2 | Billy Boston | Wing | Ron Boden | 2 |
| 3 | Eric Ashton (Captain) | Centre | Harry Wells | 3 |
| 4 | Alan Davies | Centre | Reg Gasnier | 4 |
| 5 | Mick Sullivan | Wing | Brian Carlson | 5 |
| 6 | Frank Myler | Five-eighth | Tony Brown | 6 |
| 7 | Alex Murphy | Halfback | Barry Muir | 7 |
| 8 | Jack Wilkinson | Prop | Dud Beattie | 8 |
| 9 | John Shaw | Hooker | Noel Kelly | 9 |
| 10 | Brian McTigue | Prop | Gary Parcell | 10 |
| 11 | Derek Turner | Second Row | Elton Rasmussen | 11 |
| 12 | Brian Shaw | Second Row | Rex Mossop | 12 |
| 13 | Vince Karalius | Lock | Brian Hambly | 13 |
| Bill Fallowfield | Coach | Keith Barnes | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Eddie Martung |
| Touch judges | — not identified in sources found |
| Player of the match | — not identified in sources found |
Match report
Going into the third and final round of matches on 8 October, both Great Britain and Australia had won their opening two fixtures, meaning their head-to-head meeting at Odsal Stadium was effectively a title decider — the winner would be champions, since New Zealand and France (both with worse records) were playing each other simultaneously at Central Park and could not overtake the leaders. A crowd of over 32,000 packed Odsal, the largest attendance of the tournament. Great Britain, playing at home in front of their own huge Bradford crowd, took control and led 10-0 at half-time, built on two tries — from Billy Boston and Mick Sullivan — plus two goals from fullback Austin Rhodes. Australia, captained and coached by Keith Barnes, could not find a way through Great Britain's defence for most of the match; their sole response came via a try from Brian Carlson, who would go on to be the tournament's top try-scorer and top point-scorer overall, but it was unconverted, leaving the final score at 10-3. The result gave Great Britain their second Rugby League World Cup title, after 1954, and denied Australia what would have been back-to-back-style dominance. Historically, the 1960 tournament is also notable as the first World Cup broadcast live on television for complete matches — an innovation widely blamed at the time for suppressing attendances at some of the other fixtures, though not evidently at this Odsal decider.
Sourcing caveat: Sources give the attendance for this fixture as either 33,023 or 32,773; both figures appear in reputable sources, with 32,773 tied directly to rugbyleagueproject.org's match record.
Previous World Cup meetings
- 1954 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Australia 13–28 Great Britain
- 1957 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Australia 31–6 Great Britain
- 1968 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Australia 25–10 Great Britain
- 1970 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Great Britain 11–4 Australia
- 1970 Rugby League World Cup (Final): Australia 12–7 Great Britain
- 1972 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Great Britain 27–21 Australia
- 1972 Rugby League World Cup (Final): Great Britain 10–10 Australia
- 1977 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Australia 19–5 Great Britain
- 1977 Rugby League World Cup (Final): Australia 13–12 Great Britain
- 1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Great Britain 15–24 Australia
- 1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Australia 12–26 Great Britain
- 1989–1992 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Great Britain 0–14 Australia
- 1989–1992 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Australia 16–10 Great Britain
- 1989–1992 Rugby League World Cup (Final): Australia 10–6 Great Britain