1954 Rugby League World Cup squads
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The 1954 Rugby League World Cup featured the national teams (selected from eighteen-man squads) of four nations.
Match details - listing surnames of each team and the point scorers - were included in E.E. Christensen's Official Rugby League Yearbook, as was a summary of the players' point-scoring.[1] This information is reflected in the Rugby League Project website.
Australia
For Australian players, the World Cup tournament took place in 1954's post-season. Their coach was Vic Hey[2] The team was managed by Spencer O'Neill of Parramatta, NSW and Jack McMahon of Queensland.[3]
The Rugby League News published details of the touring team including each player's age and weight.[4]
Banks, Davies, Flannery, Hall, McCaffery, O'Shea and Watson were selected from Queensland clubs. Pidding was selected from clubs in New South Wales Country areas. This lineup of the squad played for Sydney-based clubs during the 1954 season.
| Player | Position | Age | Weight st.lb (kg) |
Club | Games | Tries | Goals | FG | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bob Banks | Five-eighth | 23 | 12.10 (81) |  Toowoomba Newtown | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Roy Bull | Prop | 25 | 14.7 (92) |  Manly-Warringah | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Clive Churchill | Fullback | 27 | 11.7 (73) |  South Sydney | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Harold Crocker | Second-row | 25 | 15.0 (95) |  Parramatta | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Brian Davies | Prop, Second-row | 23 | 14.12 (94) |  Booval Swifts | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peter Diversi | Lock | 22 | 14.4 (91) |  North Sydney | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Denis Flannery | Wing | 25 | 13.8 (86) |  Ipswich Brothers | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Duncan Hall | Prop | 28 | 14.12 (94) |  Brisbane Western Suburbs | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Greg Hawick | Utility Back | 22 | 13.5 (85) | South Sydney | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Keith Holman | Halfback | 27 | 11.9 (74) |  Western Suburbs | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ken Kearney | Hooker | 28 | 13.9 (87) |  St George | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Ken McCaffery | Five-eighth | 24 | 13.0 (83) |  Toowoomba Souths | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ian Moir | Wing | 22 | 11.4 (72) | South Sydney | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kel O'Shea | Second-row | 21 | 15.1 (96) | Ayr | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Noel Pidding | Wing | 27 | 12.0 (76) | Maitland | 3 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 14 |
| Norm Provan | Second-row | 22 | 15.1 (96) | St George | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Alex Watson | Centre | 22 | 13.4 (84) | Brisbane Western Suburbs | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Harry Wells | Centre | 22 | 14.2 (90) | Wollongong | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
New Zealand
- Manager: Tom McKenzie (West Coast)
- Coach: Jim Amos (Canterbury)
The Rugby League News published details of the Kiwi touring team including each player's provincial team, weight, height, ageand occupation.[5]
| Player | Position | Age | Weight st.lb (kg) |
Province | Games | Tries | Goals | FG | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doug Anderson | Fullback | 27 | 12. 1 (77) |  Auckland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Alister Atkinson | Lock | 28 | 12. 10 (81) | Canterbury | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jim Austin | Wing, Centre | 24 | 12. 2 (77) | Auckland | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lory Blanchard | Hooker | 30 | 14. 3 (90) | Canterbury | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| John Bond | Prop, Second-row | 22 | 14. 7 (92) | Canterbury | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Jock Butterfield | Second-row | 22 | 14. 0 (89) | Canterbury | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Neville Denton | Fullback | 20 | 12. 0 (76) | Auckland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cyril Eastlake (c) | Wing, Centre | 24 | 11. 9 (74) | Auckland | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Jimmy Edwards | Wing | 27 | 12. 0 (76) | Auckland | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Len Eriksen | Halfback | 27 | 10. 0 (64) | Auckland | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Ian Grey | Fullback | 23 | 12. 7 (79) | Auckland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cliff Johnson | Prop | 25 | 14. 3 (90) | Auckland | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| George McDonald | Second-row | 20 | 13. 10 (87) |  South Auckland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ron McKay | Centre | 22 | 12. 9 (80) |  Taranaki | 3 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 21 |
| Bill McLennan | Prop | 26 | 15. 10 (100) |  West Coast | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| George Menzies | Wing | 23 | 11. 4 (72) | West Coast | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bill Sorensen | Five-eighth | 22 | 13. 4 (84) | Auckland | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| John Yates | Second-row | 24 | 14. 11 (94) | Auckland | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
