1955–56 New Zealand rugby tour of Great Britain and France

The 1955–1956 New Zealand rugby tour of Great Britain and France was a tour by the New Zealand national rugby league team. New Zealand lost both test series 1–2.

1955–56 New Zealand rugby tour of Great Britain and France
Manager	Colin Siddle
Coach(es)	Harold Tetley
Tour captain(s)	Tommy Baxter
Top point scorer(s)	Dick Haggie 155
Top try scorer(s)	Vern Bakalich 26
Top test point scorer(s)	Dick Haggie 23
Top test try scorer(s)	Henry Maxwell 4 Mick Sullivan 6
Summary	P W D L
Total	37 18 03 16
Test match	06 02 00 04
Opponent	P W D L
Great Britain	3 1 0 2
France	3 1 0 2
Tour chronology
Previous tour	1951-52 by 1952-53 by 1954 RLWC in
Next tour	1956 to 1956-57 by 1961 by

Squad

The team was coached by Harold Tetley and managed by Colin Siddle.^[1] Cliff Johnson was originally selected but withdrew and was replaced by Maxwell.

Vern Bakalich scored a then record twenty six tries while on tour.^[2]

Match Results and Players' Records (appearances, tries and goals) were printed in the 1956 edition of the Sydney-based publication, E.E. Christensen's Official Rugby League Yearbook.

Player	Position	Age	Club	Tests on Tour	Games	Tries	Goals	FG	Points
Alister Atkinson	Lock	30	Canterbury	3	22	10	0	0	30
Vern Bakalich	Wing	26	Auckland	6	28	26	0	0	78
Tommy Baxter	Centre		Auckland	6	32	5	0	0	15
Sel Belsham	Halfback	24	Auckland	3	10	2	0	0	6
Lory Blanchard	Prop, Hooker	31	Canterbury	4	22	2	0	0	6
John Bond	Second-row		Canterbury	1	9	3	0	0	9
Jock Butterfield	Hooker, Second-row	23	Canterbury	4	21	4	0	0	12
Pat Creedy	Halfback	27	Canterbury	3	24	2	12	0	30
Neville Denton	Fullback	21	Auckland	0	6	3	0	0	9
Ian Grey	Second-row	24	Auckland	2	11	5	0	0	15
Dick Haggie	Fullback, Wing	21	Auckland	4	27	11	61	0	155
Robert Hawes	Wing		West Coast	1	9	3	0	0	9
Trevor Kilkelly	Hooker		Canterbury	2	15	1	0	0	3
Henry Maxwell	Prop		Auckland	6	27	7	0	0	21
George McDonald	Second-row		South Auckland	3	22	0	0	0	0
Ron McKay	Centre		Auckland	5	24	5	8	0	31
Bill McLennan	Prop		West Coast	5	28	2	4	0	14
Les McNicol	Wing, Centre	23	West Coast	1	13	6	0	0	18
George Menzies	Five-eighth	24	West Coast	2	14	3	0	0	9
Roy Moore	Fullback		Auckland	3	13	3	19	0	47
Rex Percy	Second-row	21	Auckland	4	23	12	1	0	38
Jim Riddell	Second-row		Auckland	2	12	0	0	0	0
Keith Roberts	Halfback	23	Canterbury	2	14	5	0	0	15
Bruce Robertson	Wing		Auckland	1	9	4	0	0	12
Bill Sorensen	Five-eighth, Centre		Auckland	5	33	8	0	0	24
John Yates	Prop, Second-row		Auckland	0	11	2	0	0	6

Fixtures

A full list of fixtures is available at the Rugby League Project website.

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Attendance	Report
8 October 1955	Great Britain	Station Road, Swinton	Loss	6-25	21,937	[3]
12 November 1955	Great Britain	Odsal Stadium, Bradford	Loss	12-27	24,443	[4]
17 December 1955	Great Britain	Headingley, Leeds	Win	28-13	10,438	[5]
8 January 1956	France	Stadium Municipal, Toulouse	Loss	7-24	10,184	[6]
15 January 1956	France	Stade de Gerland, Lyon	Win	22-13	7,051	[7]
31 January 1956	France	Parc des Princes, Paris	Loss	24-3	7,051	[8]

The Kiwis were so ravaged by injuries that they only had twelve fully fit players available for the final Test against France.^[2]