England 27–12 New Zealand — World Cup Table, 1975 Rugby League World Cup
25 Oct 1975 · Odsal Stadium, Bradford, England · Attendance: 5,507
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
World Cup Table, 1975 Rugby League World Cup: England 27–12 New Zealand, at Odsal Stadium, Bradford, England on 25 Oct 1975.
Scorers
| England | Tries: Gill (3); Dunn; Hughes; Norton; Wright Goals: Fairbairn (3/8) |
| New Zealand | Tries: Gordon; Smith Goals: Collicoat (2); Gordon (1) |
Teams
| England | New Zealand | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | George Fairbairn | Fullback | Warren Collicoat | 1 |
| 2 | Stuart Wright | Wing | Phil Orchard | 2 |
| 3 | Eric Hughes | Centre | John Smith | 3 |
| 4 | John Holmes | Centre | Dennis Williams | 4 |
| 5 | Ged Dunn | Wing | Bruce Dickison | 5 |
| 6 | Ken Gill | Stand off/Five eighth | Robert Jarvis | 6 |
| 7 | Roger Millward (c) | Scrum half/Half back | Ken Stirling (c) | 7 |
| 8 | Brian Hogan | Prop forward | Lyndsay Proctor | 8 |
| 9 | John Bridges | Hooker | Tom Conroy | 9 |
| 10 | Colin Forsyth | Prop forward | John Greengrass | 10 |
| 11 | Jeff Grayshon | Second row | Ray Baxendale | 11 |
| 12 | Mick Adams | Second row | Tony Coll | 12 |
| 13 | Steve Norton | Loose forward/Lock forward | Murray Eade | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | George Nicholls | Tony Gordon | 14 | |
| 15 | Les Dyl | Peter Gurnick | 15 | |
| Alex Murphy | Coach | George Menzies | ||
Match officials
| Referee | André Lacaze (France) |
| Player of the match | Steve Norton (England) |
Match report
Played at Odsal Stadium, Bradford, in front of a modest crowd of 5,507. England, flying with five wins and two draws from their previous rounds, went in 10-2 up at halftime and pulled away in the second half to win comfortably, driven by a hat-trick from Ken Gill, with further tries from Ged Dunn, Eric Hughes, Steve Norton and Stuart Wright. Fullback George Fairbairn kicked three goals.
New Zealand, struggling badly at just one win from their previous rounds, replied through tries from Tony Gordon and John Smith, with Warren Collicoat and Tony Gordon sharing the goal-kicking. England went on to finish the round-robin phase second in the standings behind Australia. Steve Norton was named player of the match for England.
Previous World Cup meetings
- 1975 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): New Zealand 17–17 England
- 2000 Rugby League World Cup (Semi-final): New Zealand 49–6 England
- 2008 Rugby League World Cup (Group A): England 24–36 New Zealand
- 2008 Rugby League World Cup (Semi-final): New Zealand 32–22 England
- 2013 Rugby League World Cup (Semi-final): New Zealand 20–18 England