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As described the in the History of Australian Rugby League.....
The next test in Brisbane was Rorke's Drift revisited.
With pride of British rugby league very much at stake,
Great Britain overcame pain of injuries, the worst of
which was rescott's broken right forearm. Prescott broke
his arm in the third minute, but stayed on the field through
the match. His courage inspired his team and at no stage
did Australia hit the lead.
The Aussies didn't score their first try until 15 minutes
into the second half. Great Britain led 15 - 2 at the
time and then 25 - 13 until Holman kicked and regathered
to score a converted try four minutes from the end.
Great Britain had lost Dave Bolton with a broken collarbone
after only 17 minutes, and Jim Challinor, Eric Fraser
and Vince Karalius had each suffered injuries.
Yet the Test is remembered for Prescott's great courage.
At halftime there was talk of an ambulance for Prescott,
but manager, Jim Brough asked the captain to continue.
He needed no coaxing. Although suffering intense pain,
he became a valuable aid to his team mates. This was the
match in which Brian McTigue, Vince Karalius and Dick
Huddart made their test Debuts. Add them to Alex Murphy,
Eric Asthon, Dave Bolton, and John Whiteley, among others,
and you have a superb British team.
On the wave of spirit from the couragous 2nd test victory
Great Britain went onto win the third test 40-17, and
the Ashes. The result is still the record score in Anglo
Australian Tests.
See Your Comments section for stories about this match,
There is one brilliant story from Tom Mitchell who was
the Manager of the 1958 GB Team Click
Here to read it....(talk about tough men. )
Many thanks to Keith Tomlinson UK for suggesting this
game
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Battles of Brisbane
Article reproduced with the kind permission
of Mike Colman, Courier Mail, Brisbane Australia
Mike Colman
November 17, 2006 11:00pm
IT was a moment frozen in time.
July 5, 1958: Australian rugby league captain-coach Brian
Davies – the only Queenslander in the team – was about
to lead his team on to the Brisbane Exhibition Ground
to do battle with the touring Great Britain side. And
a battle it would be, with no fewer than five Englishmen
rushed to Brisbane General Hospital after fulltime.
FACE of determination . . . Brian Davies leads the Australian team into the first Battle of Brisbane, and league enthusiast Ray Thompson captured the emotion of the moment.
White-helmeted policemen cleared a path through the crowd
as Davies, his face a mask of concentration, the ball
grasped firmly between his hands, prepared to walk through
the gate.
And out stepped Ray Thompson with his camera.
The then-29 year-old dental technician had been a rugby
league fan all his life.
As a youngster he caught the express train from Childers
to Brisbane and sat at the empty Exhibition Ground all
day waiting for the game to start.
But nothing he had seen until then was as sensational
as that game 48 years ago.
The photograph which he took of Davies, as well as the
match program he bought for one shilling, remain treasured
possessions among a lifetime of rugby league souvenirs
proudly displayed at his Everton Park home.
"I was in the right place at the right time," he recalled.
"I always dressed pretty well, in coat and tie and I guess
the police thought I looked OK.
"I just stepped up and took the shot and it captured the
moment."
Within minutes of Ray taking his photo, all hell had broken
loose.
The match, won by Great Britain 25-18, would become known
as "The Battle of Brisbane" and be the first of three
sensational clashes between the two old enemies played
in Queensland which would earn legendary status.
The scene for the incident-packed match had been set over
the previous fortnight, with Australia easily winning
the first Test 25-8.
With the touring press writing of problems behind the
scenes over the omission of tough forwards Brian
McTigue and Dick Huddart, British coach Jim
Brough pleaded with team management to allow him to pick
the side for the second international.
He then called a meeting with the players, who vowed to
start the tour afresh – and shocked league followers when
he took them into camp on the Gold Coast.
If the Australians thought the visiting Englishmen had
given up and gone on a beach holiday they were soon shown
different.
Brough brought McTigue and Huddart into the side and rushed back renowned hardman Vince "Wild Bull"
Karalius who had missed the first Test through
suspension.
The Englishmen ripped into the Australians from the kick-off,
but it was British captain Alan
Prescott who reeled to the sideline in pain
after just five minutes.
Saying he was just suffering a bruised arm, Prescott refused to be replaced and ran back into the action.
According to Ray Thompson, sitting among the crowd of
34,000, that proved the turning point of the match.
"You could see Prescott was badly hurt – it turned out he had broken his arm,
of course – and the Australians were hanging off him,"
he said.
"They didn't want to hit him because he was hurt."
Great Britain went in at halftime ahead 5-2 on the scoreboard
but down one man after five-eighth Dave Bolton broke his
collarbone.
Despite trying to play on, Bolton had to leave the field
and lock forward Karalius moved to five-eighth.
At the break Prescott pushed away the doctor who tried to make him quit and,
telling Brough he would "play until I drop", led his team
back on.
Prescott's determination not to leave his side with 11 men inspired
his teammates, with McTigue and Huddart in particular
lifting themselves to cover for their injured skipper.
Centre Jim Challinor (bruised shoulder), fullback Eric
Fraser (burst blood vessel in elbow) and Karalius (bruised spine) all played on in great pain.
Halfback Alex
Murphy started and scored the try which wrapped
up the game for Great Britain, but it was the Wild Bull
who showed great pace and skill to set it up.
Murphy made a darting run before sending Karalius away with the Australian cover defence in pursuit. As
he was being dragged to ground Karalius slipped a superb
pass for Murphy to race 30m to the tryline untouched.
Fraser, his elbow ballooning to three times normal size,
landed a goal to put the game out of reach. Later he, Karalius,
Challinor and Prescott joined Bolton in the emergency ward at Brisbane General.
Exactly 14 days later Prescott,
dressed in civvies and with his arm in a sling, was chaired
by his teammates from the SCG after they had beaten Australia
40-17 to win the Ashes.
Ray Thompson saw other Tests between Australia and Great
Britain – in 1984 he took photographs of opposing captains
Wally Lewis and current Great Britain coach Brian Noble
which were strikingly similar to one he took of Davies–
but he has never again seen anything like the first Battle
of Brisbane.
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