The Ashes series against Great Britain saw an aggregate crowd of 65,286 attending the Test series. The largest attendance of the tour came during the Kangaroos 50-12 second test win over Great Britain at Station Road in Swinton with 30,843 in attendance. The largest non-test attendance of the tour was 21,284 when the Kangaroos defeated St. Helens at Knowsley Road.
Test venues
The three Ashes series tests took place at the following venues.
The first Ashes series test was played at the famous Wembley Stadium in London. Reg Gasnier ran in 3 of the Kangaroos 6 tries while his St George team mate and centre partner Graeme Langlands kicked 5 goals and crossed for his own try. In front of a small crowd of only 13,946, the Kangaroos kept the Lions scoreless with Neil Fox's lone goal the only score for the home side as Australia won 28-2. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Second Test
The second test at Station Road in Swinton has gone down in rugby league folklore as the "Swinton Massacre". The Kangaroos ran riot, crossing for 12 tries to just 2 from the Lions. The 50-12 win was not only the Kangaroos highest ever score against Great Britain, it also saw Australia win The Ashes in Englandfor the first time since 1911–12 and the first time an all-Australian team had won The Ashes in England. British fans got a taste of Ken Irvine's legendary speed when he crossed for three long range tries while Reg Gasnier, Peter Dimond and Graeme Langlands all crossed for doubles with Langlands also kicking 7 goals fora personal tally of 20 points. Though on this day there was none better than Kangaroos lock forward Johnny Raper who while not scoring himself, had a hand in 9 of his teams 12 tries. ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Third Test
With pride on the line as no England or Great Britain team had ever lost a home series 3-0 to Australia, The Lions put in a much improved performance at Headingley in Leeds. The Rugby Football League had appointed "Sergeant Major" Eric Clay as the referee for the game. The two sides set about settling scores and the Australians felt Clay was biased. It is considered was one of the most brutal Tests ever played, with two Australians and one British player being sent off. Muir who was sent off later told that he first told Clay "where to go" as he left the field, and later approached Clay after the game and said to him "You robbed us". According to Muir, Clay reportedly responded with "Barry, I've got to live here". Ken Irvine, who scored Australia's only try for the match, repeated his efforts from the 1962 Ashes series by scoring a try in each test of an Ashes series.
France
French Tests
First test
Although Ken Irvine was unavailable due to injury, The Kangaroos lost nothing with pace on the wing due to the selection of South Sydney flyer and dual-rugby international Michael Cleary who 12 months earlier had won the Bronze Medal in the 100 yards sprint at the 1962 Commonwealth Games. However it wasn't enough as the tourists were defeated 8-5 by a determined French.
