Great Britain 33–7 France — World Cup Table, 1960 Rugby League World Cup
1 Oct 1960 · Station Road, Swinton, England · Attendance: 22,923
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
World Cup Table, 1960 Rugby League World Cup: Great Britain 33–7 France, at Station Road, Swinton, England on 1 Oct 1960.
Scorers
| Great Britain | Tries: Rhodes (2); Davies (2); Myler; Sullivan; Wilkinson Goals: Fraser (6) |
| France | Tries: Dubon Goals: Lacaze (2) |
Teams
| Great Britain | France | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eric Fraser | Fullback | Louis Poletti | 1 |
| 2 | Jim Challinor | Wing | Jacques Dubon | 2 |
| 3 | Austin Rhodes | Centre | Roger Rey | 3 |
| 4 | Alan Davies | Centre | Claude Mantoulan | 4 |
| 5 | Mick Sullivan | Wing | Raymond Gruppi | 5 |
| 6 | Frank Myler | Five-eighth | Jacques Merquey (Captain) | 6 |
| 7 | Alex Murphy | Halfback | Joseph Guiraud | 7 |
| 8 | Brian McTigue | Prop | Aldo Quaglio | 8 |
| 9 | John Shaw | Hooker | Andre Casas | 9 |
| 10 | Jack Wilkinson | Prop | Yves Mezard | 10 |
| 11 | Brian Shaw | Second Row | Robert Eramouspe | 11 |
| 12 | Vince Karalius | Second Row | Jean Barthe | 12 |
| 13 | John Whiteley | Lock | Andre Lacaze | 13 |
| Bill Fallowfield | Coach | Rene Duffort / Jean Duhau | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Eddie Martung |
| Touch judges | — not identified in sources found |
| Player of the match | — not identified in sources found |
Match report
Great Britain went into the France match as clear tournament favourites, having already shown good early-season form and boasting a powerful pack marshalled by Vince Karalius, Brian Shaw and John Whiteley, with the dangerous finishing of Mick Sullivan on the wing and the creative halves pairing of Alex Murphy and Frank Myler behind them. France, by contrast, had opened with a narrow, competitive loss to Australia and came into the Swinton fixture looking to build on that showing. On the day, Great Britain proved too strong. They led 13-7 at half-time — France scored their sole try of the match through winger Jacques Dubon along with two goals from Andre Lacaze to stay within six points at the break — before Great Britain pulled clear in the second half. Centre pairing Austin Rhodes and Alan Davies were the stars of the afternoon, each scoring two tries, with further tries to Frank Myler, Mick Sullivan and prop Jack Wilkinson rounding out a seven-try haul. Fullback Eric Fraser was faultless with the boot, converting six goals for a match total of 33-7. The result effectively confirmed Great Britain's status as tournament pace-setters, needing only to avoid a heavy defeat to Australia in their final match at Odsal a week later (which they won 10-3) to be crowned World Cup champions for the first time, finishing the round-robin table undefeated.
Sourcing caveat: Sources give the attendance for this fixture as either 22,923 (widely cited) or 22,293 (rugbyleagueproject.org's match page) — likely a digit transposition between sources; the widely-cited figure is used in the match record.
Previous World Cup meetings
- 1954 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): France 13–13 Great Britain
- 1954 Rugby League World Cup (Final): Great Britain 16–12 France
- 1957 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): France 5–23 Great Britain
- 1968 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): France 7–2 Great Britain
- 1970 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Great Britain 6–0 France
- 1972 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): France 4–13 Great Britain
- 1977 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): France 4–23 Great Britain
- 1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): France 10–10 Great Britain
- 1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Great Britain 52–4 France
- 1989–1992 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): France 10–45 Great Britain
- 1989–1992 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Great Britain 36–0 France