As a big rugby shirt collector it was disappointing not to find much information on this game, particularly as I had just obtained a Europe shirt from the game.

After only finding a sentence in the Rothmans Yearbook and having to hunt around the internet without much reward, I have decided to bring all the information on this game into one place from the details I found

To mark French Rugby League’s 50th anniversary in 1984, a combined European team took on a southern hemisphere ‘Oceania’ team in Paris. The game was played on Saturday April 14th 1984 at the Stade de la Cipalle Velodrome in Paris and attracted a paltry crowd of around 2,000.

Picture below of the Oceania squad who were captained by Wally Lewis

The match day line ups were as follows:

Europe

1 Patrick Wosniak

2 Patrick Solal

3 Philippe Fourquet

4 Ellery Hanley

5 Des Drummond

6 Andre Perez

7 Ray Ashton

8 Max Chantal

9 Thierry Bernabe

10 Dominic Baloup

11 Mick Worrall

12 Guy Laforgue

13 Joel Roosebrouck (captain)

BENCH

14 Des Foy

15

16 Patrick Trinque

17 Steve Fenwick

COACH Louis Bonnery

The number 15 was to be Tommy David. He was named for Europe on the bench, but had to withdraw after suffering an injury while training. He was not replaced.

Europe played in a white shirt made by O’Neills

This shirt was worn by Steve Fenwick in the game

OCEANIA

1 Robin Alsfeld

2 Kerry Boustead

3 Mal Meninga

4 Gene Miles

5 Dean Bell

6 Wally Lewis (captain)

7 Steve Mortimer

8 Kevin Tamati

9 Howie Tamati

10 Brad Tessmann

11 Wayne Pearce

12 Mark Graham

13 Ray Price

SUBS

14 Shane Varley

15 Hugh McGahan

16 David Noifa

17 Ekon Togili

COACH Graham Lowe

The Oceania team wore a royal blue shirt with the southern cross in yellow. Craig Young withdrew the day before the game after learning his passport had expired. He was replaced by Brad Tessman. Kiwi, Mark Graham was vice captain, with his club, North Sydney’s selfish objections to his selection, over ruled by the International Federation.

There is very little about the game in the Rothmans Yearbook 1984/85. The entire game was given one sentence on page 22 under Memories of April as follows “The French celebrate their 50th anniversary with a Europe v Oceania match in Paris, the star studded Australasian outfit winning 54-4”

The scorers were as follows

Europe

Try

Hanley

Oceania

Tries

Gene Miles 2, Hugh McGahan 2, Brad Tressmann 2, Robin Alfield, Kerry Boustead, Mark Graham, Steve Mortimer, Ekon Togili

Goals

Kerry Boustead (1), Mal Meninga (1), Howie Tamati (1), Kevin Tamati (1), Ekon Togili (1)

There is a video on YouTube and union convert Steve Fenwick can be seen on there wearing the number 17 shirt

For more great shirts visit www.classicrugbyshirts.com