Generation game as legends go back to glory days

As England prepare to face bitter rivals Australia tomorrow at Wembley Stadium, former protagonists Karl Harrison and Arthur Beetson go back in time. Dave Craven reports.

KARL HARRISON

The Halifax head coach, 47, faced Australia 10 times during his playing career as an industrious no-nonsense prop with Hull FC and Halifax.

He featured in each of the three 1990 Tests, actually debuting for Great Britain in their famous Wembley win, played two Tests on the 1992 tour and the entirety of the Kangaroos’ visit here two years later.

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Harrison also took on the old enemy twice in England colours at the 1995 World Cup, tasting success again at Wembley in the pool stages only to agonisingly lose the final on their return.

What makes the English/Great Britain rivalry with Australia so special?

As rugby league players here we’ve just been brought up on it all as the Aussies being the ones we have to beat.

For them, they may see themselves as second-class citizens but they are over there living it up in the sunshine.

I feel there is a mutual respect between the two though.

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Describe the atmosphere of playing the Kangaroos at Wembley.

I’ve only ever played them at the ‘old’ Wembley but waiting in the tunnel there behind the posts and then walking out... it just explodes.

That feeling was special and I’ll never forget it.

But Wembley is the national stadium and the biggest stage in the country so it was just a pleasure to play there.

Was playing the Australians the pinnacle of your career?

Without a shadow of a doubt. I always classed Australia and us as the top two in the world.

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The Kiwis may argue otherwise but certainly the closest games were between us and the Aussies.

There was so much feeling involved and having not beaten them in a series for so long meant there was always that added pressure on us. In our era, we were 14 seconds away from winning the Ashes in 1990, we lost the Third Test in Brisbane in ‘92 and likewise at Elland Road in ‘94.

Since Super League’s arrived, we seem to have gone backwards. Maybe that’s due to an influx of overseas players into our game.

What is your fondest and worst memory of playing against Australia?

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Making my Test debut against them at Wembley in 1990 and winning has to to the best.

I admit I was a bit overawed by the occasion. I’d not been involved in any representative football at all before that and it did blow me away. I had a few good chats with the senior pros though – Ellery Hanley and Andy Gregory – and they got me through it but I think I definitely handled the second Test at Old Trafford better.

The victory in Melbourne in ‘92 was amazing too while beating the Aussies at Wembley in ‘94 when Shaun Edwards was sent off was another great day. We had no right to win that game playing with 12 men for 60 minutes but we did so fair and square.

As for the worst, we were humiliated in the second Test at Old Trafford in ‘94. We’d won the first but they hammered us after that. We came back a bit in the third Test at Elland Road but the damage had been done. Losing the ‘95 World Cup final at Wembley was tough but at least we knew we’d performed. We didn’t in Manchester the year before.

Who was your greatest Australia adversary?

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Undoubtedly, Mal Meninga – the ultimate leader who played the game hard and fair while being a true ambassador for the sport.

And your predictions for tomorrow’s game?

I watched the Aussies v Kiwis and it was a slow game which suits us. We need some special players but I think we’ve got them. Steve McNamara’s brought in the so-called ex-Pats which I’m not sure is good or bad but we’ve got a chance and I think we will win at Wembley.

ARTHUR BEETSON

Rated possibly the world’s greatest ever prop, ‘Big Artie’ Arthur Beetson, 66, was one of the toughest but most skilled competitors around.

He proved pivotal on his Australia debut during the Ashes-deciding third Test against Great Britain in 1966, captained his country on part of the 1973 Kangaroo tour – overcoming a Wembley loss against GB to re-claim the Ashes – won two World Cups and featured 26 times in total.

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Beetson, who played for Hull KR in 1968 and led Eastern Suburbs to back-to-back Premiership wins in 1974-75, also captained Queensland in the inaugural 1980 State of Origin before becoming the seventh post-war Australian “Immortal” after Churchill, Raper, Gasnier, Fulton, Langlands and Lewis, in 2003.

What are your recollections of the 1973 game at Wembley?

I played England or Great Britain plenty of times – in ‘66, ‘70 and then World Cups in ‘72 and ‘75 but what I remember about that ‘73 tour was we came over from Australia and went straight into the Test match.

We didn’t have any lead-up games and it didn’t help, while I remember kicking up about the softness of the ground. There was only around 30,000 in there as well which was strange when it held 100,000 but we won the next two Tests and took the Ashes back.

I remember walking the last couple of kilometres to Wilderspool at Warrington for the final game and they’d just finished burning all the straw on the ground to try and defrost the pitch. The ground was rock solid. It wouldn’t have been played nowadays.

Everyone finished with cuts but we won the Test.

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How did you enjoy the experience of playing against England and Great Britain?

It was great. The ultimate really. I sat out the first two games in 1966 but came in for the last Test and played in front of 66,000 – most of them Aussies – at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

It was a pretty brutal game back then – those days of ‘The Coathanger’ tackle – and we had some tough contests, but when we came on tour it was the club games I loved.

We’d go to Craven Park, Headingley, Warrington and Central Park in Wigan and the supporters were never one-sided. That’s what I liked about English fans – they appreciated good football and clapped us as much as their own.

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There was real warmth and friendship when we went to those sorts of places and it’s something the modern-day player and supporter misses out on.

Who was your greatest British adversary?

Cliff Watson was a great player but the two best I ever saw were Malcolm Reilly and Roger Millward.

Malcolm was an incredible player and I got a few scars off him; he probably had the best elbows in the world.

Roger was an exceptional little player too. He only weighed 10 stone but was real class and it is such a shame I didn’t get to play with him when I was at Hull KR.

What are your memories of that time at Craven Park?

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Great people and such a warm welcome from a real rugby city. I made some friends for life at Hull Kingston Rovers.

Obviously, I’ll never forget my last game playing the Airlie Birds on Christmas Day in ‘68. Putting your head in the scrum that day was like putting it in a brewery. The steam coming off was amazing.

I remember going down with the injury that finished me and hearing the coach Colin Hutton – who was running the line as he’d given the physio the day off – shouting “Get up and play the ball Artie, this is no time to be messing around” or words to that effect.

When I had an x-ray it showed I’d fractured my tibia but he virtually called me soft because players played on with those sorts of injuries back then. It was only about three days later I persuaded him there was a bit more wrong and it turned out I’d broken my fibula and done loads of ligament damage too. I loved it in Hull though.

And what are your predictions for tomorrow’s game?

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I think we should win by 20 points. Australia have just too much class and I reckon our boys will be too strong.

I hope it’s going to be competitive but I don’t give England a massive chance. I’ve been wrong before though.