Before sailing for England the team stopped in New Zealand for an exhibition match at the
Basin Reserve in
Wellington. Also during the tour, the
Northern Rugby Football Union tried to arrange a match in Paris, but opposition from the
RFU-aligned
French Rugby Federation made it impossible. After arriving in England, the Kangaroos played four matches against local clubs before the first Ashes test, winning all of them with dominant margins: ---- ---- ----
First Ashes test The Kangaroos' winning streak came to an end when they played against England. Australasia led 5–3 at the break and the match seemed to be theirs when Frank Burge scored a late try, but it was disallowed by referee Frank Renton. Thus, a sole second-half try from the British close to full-time was enough for them to win it. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- At halftime York led 4–3 in a game that "was characterised by rough and scrambling play, minor injuries being numerous."
Second Ashes test In the second Test the scores were 2-all at half-time, but after that the Australian backline of Horder, Carstairs, Vest and Blinkhorn cut loose. The Kangaroos scored 4 tries to nil, the win setting up the third and final Test as the Ashes decider. This was also the last Test in the international career of Sandy Pearce and made him the oldest ever Kangaroo. ---- The Kangaroos played sixteen more tour matches between the second and third Tests: Up to and including the final Kangaroo Tour which included matches against English club sides in
1994, this would be the highest ever score by the Kangaroos. The closest The Kangaroos ever came to this score was an 80–2 win over the
Sheffield Eagles in 1994. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Among those present for this match was the UK's
Speaker of the House of Commons,
J. H. Whitley. The half-time score was 18–3 to the visitors, who were without
Dick Vest due to ill health. ---- ----
Third Ashes test The decider was played on a heavy, snow-bound field, much to the dismay of the fleet-footed Kangaroos. Early in the match the Australians were reduced to twelve men when Chook Fraser suffered a broken leg. In what was described as "a bruising encounter", Herman Hilton took a pass from his captain, the "prince of centres", Harold Wagstaff to dive over, taking two defenders over the try-line with him. The final score was 6–0 to the home side. By winning this third and deciding test of the series, Britain claimed
the Ashes. ---- ---- By the end of the tour, Australian three-quarter,
Cec Blinkhorn, had scored 39 tries in 29 matches, which still stands as the record for most tries scored on a Kangaroo tour. The other winger,
Harold Horder scored 35, and forward
Frank Burge was not far behind with 33 tries from 23 games. The team travelled back to Australia on the
Orvieto, arriving in
Fremantle in February 1922. Upon their return to Sydney a large dinner was held for the tourists by the
New South Wales Rugby Football League, which was attended by the likes of Sir
Joynton Smith, to celebrate the players' courageous effort and the fact that this was the first team to return to Sydney with a profit. ==References==