Great Britain national rugby league team

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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