The 2015 New Zealand rugby league tour of England was a tour by the New Zealand national rugby league team. The New Zealand national rugby league team played a match against the Leeds Rhinos and competed in a three match test series against England for the Baskerville Shield, losing 2-1.

Background

New Zealand had originally intended to host a tour against France, while Australia was speculated to host a Great Britain Lions tour. However the Australian Rugby League Commission declined to host a tour and as an alternative the Rugby Football League invited the New Zealand Rugby League to tour Great Britain for a three match series.^[1]

New Zealand was last in the United Kingdom for the World Cup in 2013.

On 25 February 2015, the three test match venues were confirmed with Hull's KC Stadium hosting game one on 1 November, the London Olympic Stadium hosting the second test on 7 November and the final test match being held at Wigan's DW Stadium on 14 November.^[2]

The match against Leeds was the first time a Super League side had played a touring side since 2002, when the Kiwis played matches against Hull F.C. and St. Helens. It was the first time that Leeds played New Zealand since 1992. The match celebrated the 125th anniversary of Headingley Rugby Stadium. Leeds has defeated New Zealand once in eleven matches between the two teams.^[3][4]

Squad

Training squad

An initial training squad was named on 8 September 2015 and added to as teams were eliminated from the NRL finals. Kieran Foran was among those initially named but he later withdrew due to injury, joining Shaun Johnson, Thomas Leuluai, Manu Vatuvei, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and Jared Warea-Hargreaves as being unavailable for the tour.^[5] Skipper Simon Mannering was also later made unavailable for the test series due to injury.^[6]

Final squad

The final touring squad of 23 players was named on 8 October.^[11]

On 10 October, Jason Taumalolo withdrew from the touring 23-man squad due to a knee injury. He was replaced by Manaia Cherrington.^[12] Curtis Rona left the tour after the second test match, returning to Australia to be present for the birth of his daughter.^[13]

Name	Club	Position(s)	Games	Tries	Goals	FGs	Points
Gerard Beale	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Centre	0	0	0	0	0
Adam Blair (c)	Brisbane Broncos	Prop, Second-row	4	0	0	0	0
Jesse Bromwich	Melbourne Storm	Prop	4	1	0	0	4
Lewis Brown	Penrith Panthers	Second-row	3	0	0	0	0
Manaia Cherrington	Wests Tigers	Hooker	0	0	0	0	0
Alex Glenn	Brisbane Broncos	Second-row	3	0	0	0	0
Tohu Harris	Melbourne Storm	Second-row	4	1	0	0	4
Peta Hiku	Manly Sea Eagles	Fullback	4	0	0	0	0
Jordan Kahu	Brisbane Broncos	Fullback, Wing, Centre	4	2	1	1	11
Shaun Kenny-Dowall	Sydney Roosters	Wing, Centre	4	1	0	0	4
Isaac Liu	Sydney Roosters	Lock	0	0	0	0	0
Tuimoala Lolohea	New Zealand Warriors	Fullback, Wing, Five-eighth	2	0	2	0	4
Issac Luke (c)	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Hooker	4	0	4	0	8
Ben Matulino	New Zealand Warriors	Prop	4	0	0	0	0
Sam Moa	Sydney Roosters	Prop	4	1	0	0	4
Jason Nightingale	St. George Illawarra Dragons	Wing	4	2	0	0	8
Kodi Nikorima	Brisbane Broncos	Fullback, Halfback, Hooker	4	1	0	0	4
Kevin Proctor	Melbourne Storm	Second-row	4	0	0	0	0
Curtis Rona	Canterbury Bulldogs	Wing	0	0	0	0	0
Sio Siua Taukeiaho	Sydney Roosters	Second-row	2	0	0	0	0
Martin Taupau	Wests Tigers	Lock	4	0	0	0	0
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck	Sydney Roosters	Fullback	4	3	0	0	12
Dean Whare	Penrith Panthers	Centre	4	1	0	0	4

Venues

The four matches were played at the following venues in England.

Leeds	Hull	London	Wigan
Headingley	KC Stadium	Olympic Stadium	DW Stadium
Capacity: 21,062	Capacity: 25,400	Capacity: 66,000	Capacity: 25,138

Fixtures

New Zealand played four matches on tour, including three test matches against England.^[14] England also played a test match against France on 24 October.^[15][16]

Game 1

2015 (2015) Game 1  ()
Leeds Rhinos New Zealand 16 34
1 2 Total LEE 6 10 16 NZL 10 24 34
Date	23 October 2015
Stadium	Headingley
Location	Leeds, England
Referee	Richard Silverwood
Attendance	20,158
Broadcast partners
Broadcasters	Premier Sports,[21] Sky Sport 2[22]
Commentators	Stuart Pyke Iestyn Harris

Gerard Beale was originally named to play but was replaced by Lewis Brown.

23 October 2015

Leeds Rhinos	16–34	New Zealand
Tries: Moon (2) 28' c, 55' c Briscoe 73' Goal: Lilley (2/3) 29', 56'	[17]	Tries: Nightingale 37' c Kahu 40' Bromwich 63' c Whare 66' Tuivasa-Sheck (2) 69', 80' Nikorima 78' c Goal: Luke (1/2) 38' Lolohea (2/5) 63', 78'

Test 1

2015 (2015) Test 1  ()
England New Zealand 26 12
1 2 Total ENG 12 14 26 NZL 12 0 12
Date	1 November 2015
Stadium	KC Stadium
Location	Hull, England
Brett Ferres
Referee	Ben Thaler[23]
Attendance	23,526
Broadcast partners
Broadcasters	BBC Sport,[24] Sky Sport 2[22]
Commentators	Dave Woods Jonathan Davies John Kear

Alex Glenn and Lewis Brown were named as 18th and 19th man respectively for the Kiwis.^[25]

1 November 2015

England	26–12	New Zealand
Try: Hodgson 21' c Ferres (2) 36' c, 59' c O'Loughlin 77' c Goal: Widdop (5/5) 21', 36', 46', 59', 77'	[18]	Try: Harris 7' Moa 17' c Goal: Luke (2/3) 17', 27'

Test 2

2015 (2015) Test 2  ()
England New Zealand 2 9
1 2 Total ENG 2 0 2 NZL 2 7 9
Date	7 November 2015
Stadium	London Olympic Stadium
Location	London, England
Issac Luke
Referee	Gerard Sutton[23]
Attendance	44,393
Broadcast partners
Broadcasters	BBC Sport,[24] Sky Sport 2[22]
Commentators	Dave Woods Jonathan Davies Brian Noble

Stephen Kearney originally named Tuimoala Lolohea at halfback before selecting Kodi Nikorima to start the match.^[26]

7 November 2015

England	2–9	New Zealand
Goal: Widdop (1/1) 8'	[19]	Try: Kenny-Dowall 43' c Goal: Luke (1/2) 14' Kahu (1/1) 43' Drop Goal: Kahu (1/1) 77'

Test 3

2015 (2015) Test 3  ()
England New Zealand 20 14
1 2 Total ENG 8 12 20 NZL 6 8 14
Date	14 November 2015
Stadium	DW Stadium
Location	Wigan, England
Matty Smith
Referee	Ben Thaler[27]
Attendance	24,741
Broadcast partners
Broadcasters	BBC Sport,[24] Sky Sport 2[22]
Commentators	Dave Woods John Kear Brian Noble

With the win, England retained the Baskerville Shield. Isaac Liu and Gerard Beale were 18th and 19th man respectively for New Zealand.^[28]

14 November 2015

England	20–14	New Zealand
Try: Whitehead (2) 27' c, 63' c O'Loughlin 72' c Goal: Widdop (4/4) 5', 27', 63', 72'	[20]	Try: Nightingale 36' c Tuivasa-Sheck 75' Kahu 79' Goal: Luke (1/3) 36'

Aftermath

England's captain, Sean O'Loughlin was awarded the George Smith Medal as player of the series. This was England's first major series win in 8 years with their last win coming in the previous Kiwis tour of Great Britain.^[29]