The first leg of the tour was Australia, where the game of
rugby league football was in its twelfth year since splitting away from
rugby union in 1908. The tour included places such as
Orange,
Bundaberg,
Rockhampton,
Toowoomba and
Tamworth as well as the standard main venues of
Brisbane,
Newcastle,
Sydney and
Ipswich.
Test venues The three Ashes series tests took place at the following venues. ---- The opening match of the tour on 5 June took place between rounds 5 and 6 of the fifteen-round
1920 NSWRFL season, and saw a
Metropolis (Sydney) team host the tourists at the
Sydney Cricket Ground. In front of an overflow crowd of 65,000 the visitors ran out 27–20 winners. ---- ---- As the preliminary match to the
New South Wales versus Britain game on 12 June,
Sydney University's first intervarsity match against
Queensland University under rugby league rules was played before a crowd of 60,000. Sydney won 26–14.
Albert Johnston captained New South Wales in two matches against the visiting Lions. ---- ---- On Saturday, 19 June, the tourists played a match against
Queensland before a crowd of around 20,000 at the
Brisbane Exhibition Ground. The Queensland side featured
Mick Bennett,
Neville Broadfoot,
Jeff Daly,
Harry Fewin, Thomas Johnson,
Jack Maguire,
Patrick Moran,
Claud O'Donnell,
Walter Paten,
Norm Potter,
Bill Richards,
Stan Ryan, E. Sabine,
Colin Thompson, and J. Thompson. The British team was F G Thomas, J A Bacon, J Doyle, H Wagstaff, F Stockwell, R Lloyd, J Rogers, H Hilton, W Reid, G Rees, R Gronow, E Milnes and E Johnston. Refereed by L H Kearney, the visitors, after leading 13–10 at half-time, won the game 25–15. ---- ---- ---- ----
First test The first test of the 1920
Ashes series was played on the 26th of June at the
Brisbane Exhibition Ground before a crowd of 32,000. It was refereed by local whistleblower Laurie Kearney.
Albert Johnston was selected to captain Australia in the opening Test of the series in the absence of champion centre
Herb Gilbert. Despite a last minute reshuffling of the team which saw Johnston move to halfback. ---- ----
Second test Albert Johnston lost the Australian captaincy on
Herb Gilbert's return and played at
five-eighth in the second Ashes Test. Australian halfback Duncan Thompson starred in the match, which was won by the hosts 21–8. The first game was on the 25th of August and the tourists won 17–10. The second was on the 28th which they also won 24–3. ---- == New Zealand ==