The Frank Endacott-coached Junior Kiwis toured Great Britain at the same time as the senior Kiwis, winning 11 of their 12 matches. Their captain, Henry Paul, was called up from the Junior Kiwis to join the main squad mid-tour.
Squad
This was the first time that no Auckland-based players were in the squad.[3]
A disallowed try in the dying minutes was all that came between Wales pulling off the result of the decade in an exciting clash at Swansea.
Wales led for much of the first half. Two kicked penalties from Jonathan Davies and a drop goal from John Griffiths gave the impetus and on 27 minutes Davies put in a fantastic 40 yard kick to set up the flying Gareth Cordle to score Wales' first try.
However New Zealand were kept in the game by a succession of goals from the classy kicker Daryl Harrigan, and when Quentin Pongia punished a rare weak kick from Davies to set up Mackie just before half-time, the Kiwis took a narrow lead.
Ropati extended the lead to 7 points after the restart before Jiffy's magic took hold on the game again. He kicked a penalty and then repeated the trick of the first half, sending another long kick over the defence to give Cordle his second. Wales smelt victory at 17-16 but almost immediately a lost ball from Devereux allowed Mackie to set up the strong running Sean Hoppe. Both sides exchanged penalties and with a few minutes to go John Devereux took advantage of a hoisted bomb to send Wales into rapture with what they thought was the winning try. Agonisingly for the home side, reserve back Adrian Hadley was correctly ruled offside and Wales' last chance to steal the match was gone.
A famous victory had eluded Wales; nevertheless they had sent a clear message that they were building up to the World Cup and would be willing to take on anybody.[5]
Surprisingly, Kiwi coach Howie Tamati elected to have Gene Ngamu kicking the goals despite the presence of 'superboot' Daryl Halligan at fullback in place of Morvin Edwards who was suffering from the flu. The ploy almost backfired as Ngamu only kicked one goal from five attempts. The match was highlighted by Sean Hoppe's 90 metre intercept try in the second half in which he left both Gary Connolly and Sam Panapa in his wake. Frano Botica, who would represent the Kiwis later in the test series, played against his national squad for Wigan.
Martin Offiah's standing as the fastest player in rugby league took a beating during the second half when after making a break, he was unceremoniously bundled into touch after a 40-metre run by Kevin Iro. Offiah, recalled to the Lions test side after missing the first test at Wembley through injury, had a 3-metre head start on the Kiwi centre.
3rd Test
Great Britain wrapped up the series 3-0 with a commanding 29-10 win at Headingley in Leeds.
After New Zealand lost the second test, and the series, coach Howie Tamati selected Aaron Whittaker at halfback over the incumbent captain, Gary Freeman. After the match Tamati stated "I didn't believe I could win with Gary, it didn't come off but I believe the decision I made gave us a chance, whereas before we had no chance."[10]
The match was highlighted by an 80-metre try to Lions fullback Jonathan Davies.[11]
France
French Test
The Kiwis restored some pride by defeating France 36-11 in the test in Carcassonne.