The
Great Britain national rugby league team is the national team of the
United Kingdom in
rugby league football. The team is administered by the
Rugby Football League (RFL), and is nicknamed "
The Lions" or "
Great Britain Lions".
In 2006, the RFL announced that after the
2007 All Golds Tour the Great Britain team would no longer compete on a regular basis, and that players would be able to represent
England,
Wales and
Scotland at Test level. It is planned that the Great Britain team will come together in future only for occasional tours.
Competitions
Great Britain were one of the strongest teams in rugby league, though usually playing second fiddle to
Australia. They won the
Rugby League World Cup on three occasions:
1954,
1960 and
1972. Since
1995 the RFL have preferred to send the
home nations as separate teams for World Cup purposes. Great Britain continued to compete as a test playing nation both home and away (unlike the
British and Irish Lions rugby union team, who are a touring team that play every four years). They competed against Australia for
the Ashes, and
New Zealand for the
Baskerville Shield, as well the
Tri-Nations series with both Australia and New Zealand. Great Britain also played in series and tours against other nations such as
France,
Papua New Guinea and
Fiji.
Titles, selection and identity
The team was originally known as the
Northern Union XIII in reference to the name of the sport's...
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