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1955 NSWRFL season

Rugby league competition

Field	Value
year	1955
competition	New South Wales Rugby Football League
imagesize	125px
teams	10
premiers	[[Image:South Sydney colours.svg	16x16px]] South Sydney
count	16th
minor premiers	[[Image:Newtown colours.svg	16x16px]] Newtown
mpcount	6th
matches	94
points	3253
top point scorer	[[Image:St. George colours.svg	16x16px]] Doug Fleming (185)
top try scorer	[[Image:Eastern Suburbs colours.svg	16x16px]] Brian Allsop (18)
[[Image:South Sydney colours.svg	16x16px]] Ian Moir (18)
wooden_spoon	[[File:Western Suburbs colours.svg	16x16px]] Western Suburbs
wooden_spoon_count	10th
prevseason_link	1954 NSWRFL season
prevseason_year	1954
nextseason_link	1956 NSWRFL season
nextseason_year	1956

The 1955 NSWRFL season was the 48th season of the New South Wales Rugby Football League. Ten teams from across Sydney competed for the NSWRFL Premiership J. J. Giltinan Shield during the season, which culminated in a replay of the previous year's Grand Final between the South Sydney and Newtown clubs.{{cite news | access-date = 2009-11-20}}

Season summary

Halfway through the 1955 season Souths were in equal 9th place having won just three of ten matches. From that point they didn't lose another game, winning eight season encounters in a row before the finals. Eventually they finished 4th. Had they lost a single one of these games they would have missed the finals.

In the second last match of the regular season Souths met Manly-Warringah and were behind 4–7 with moments to go. Clive Churchill had broken his arm early in the game tackling Manly winger George Hugo but refused to leave the field. Souths lock Les Cowie managed to score a try in the corner and Churchill with a broken arm took a sideline conversion attempt that wobbled over the posts and won Souths the game. Churchill would take no part in Souths' 1955 finals campaign.

Teams

North Sydney[[Image:North Sydney Jersey 1954.png	100px	center]]	Parramatta[[Image:Parramatta Jersey 1953.png	100px	center]]	South Sydney[[Image:South Sydney Jersey 1930.png	100px	center]]	St. George[[Image:St George Jersey 1948.png	100px	center]]	Western Suburbs[[Image:Western Suburbs Jersey 1953.png	100px	center]]

Regular season

Team	1	2
Balmain	**MAN
+2**	NEW
+4	SOU
−18	PAR
−12	**WES
+22**	**STG
−3**	**NOR
−4**	**CBY
+6**	EAS
−4	MAN
0	**NEW
+4**	**SOU
−8**	**PAR
+16**	**WES
+13**	STG
−2	NOR
−13	CBY
+4	**EAS
+8**
Canterbury-Bankstown	WES
−9	**STG
−17**	**NOR
+2**	SOU
−25	**EAS
−3**	MAN
−17	NEW
−25	BAL
+6	**PAR
+5**	**WES
+3**	STG
−18	NOR
−28	**SOU
−34**	EAS
−34	**MAN
−26**	**NEW
−10**	**BAL
−4**	PAR
−13
Eastern Suburbs	PAR
+19	**WES
−13**	**STG
−4**	NOR
−19	CBY
+3	**SOU
+3**	**MAN
−7**	**NEW
0**	**BAL
+4**	**PAR
+26**	WES
+18	**STG
−7**	**NOR
−4**	**CBY
+34**	SOU
−11	**MAN
+1**	NEW
−18	BAL
−8
Manly-Warringah	BAL
−2	PAR
+6	WES
+46	STG
−18	NOR
+4	**CBY
+17**	EAS
+7	**SOU
+12**	NEW
−44	**BAL
0**	**PAR
−2**	**WES
+26**	STG
+3	**NOR
+2**	CBY
+26	EAS
−1	SOU
−2	**NEW
+7**	**SOU
−2**
Newtown	**SOU
+23**	**BAL
−4**	**PAR
+3**	WES
+17	**STG
+6**	NOR
+10	**CBY
+25**	EAS
0	**MAN
+44**	SOU
+1	BAL
−4	PAR
+17	**WES
+26**	**STG
+5**	**NOR
+7**	CBY
+10	**EAS
+18**	MAN
−7	X	**STG
+3**	X	**SOU
−1**
North Sydney	STG
−10	**SOU
+8**	CBY
−2	**EAS
+19**	**MAN
−4**	**NEW
−10**	BAL
+4	PAR
+7	**WES
+22**	**STG
−11**	SOU
−15	**CBY
+28**	EAS
+4	MAN
−2	NEW
−7	**BAL
+13**	**PAR
+1**	WES
+22
Parramatta	**EAS
−19**	**MAN
−6**	NEW
−3	**BAL
+12**	SOU
+9	**WES
−4**	**STG
−8**	**NOR
−7**	CBY
−5	EAS
−26	MAN
+2	**NEW
−17**	BAL
−16	**SOU
−22**	WES
+20	STG
−29	NOR
−1	**CBY
+13**
South Sydney	NEW
−23	NOR
−8	**BAL
+18**	**CBY
+25**	**PAR
−9**	EAS
−3	**WES
+25**	MAN
−12	STG
−18	**NEW
−1**	**NOR
+15**	BAL
+8	CBY
+34	PAR
+22	**EAS
+11**	WES
+11	**MAN
+2**	**STG
+10**	MAN
+2	X	STG
+4	NEW
+1
St. George	**NOR
+10**	CBY
+17	EAS
+4	**MAN
+18**	NEW
−6	BAL
+3	PAR
+8	WES
+13	**SOU
+18**	NOR
+11	**CBY
+18**	EAS
+7	**MAN
−3**	NEW
−5	**BAL
+2**	**PAR
+29**	**WES
+15**	SOU
−10	X	NEW
−3	**SOU
−4**
Western Suburbs	**CBY
+9**	EAS
+13	**MAN
−46**	**NEW
−17**	BAL
−22	PAR
+4	SOU
−25	**STG
−13**	NOR
−22	CBY
−3	**EAS
−18**	MAN
−26	NEW
−26	BAL
−13	**PAR
−20**	**SOU
−11**	STG
−15	**NOR
−22**

Bold – Home game

X – Bye

Opponent for round listed above margin

Ladder

Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	[[Image:Newtown colours.svg	16x16px]] Newtown	18	14	1	3	376	179	+197
2	[[Image:St. George colours.svg	16x16px]] St. George	18	14	0	4	396	247	+149
3	[[Image:Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg	16x16px]] Manly	18	11	1	6	332	245	+87
4	[[Image:South Sydney colours.svg	16x16px]] South Sydney	18	11	0	7	367	260	+107
5	[[Image:North Sydney colours.svg	16x16px]] North Sydney	18	10	0	8	345	278	+67
6	[[Image:Eastern Suburbs colours.svg	16x16px]] Eastern Suburbs	18	8	1	9	342	325	+17
7	[[Image:Balmain colours.svg	16x16px]] Balmain	18	8	1	9	384	381	+3
8	[[Image:Parramatta colours.svg	16x16px]] Parramatta	18	5	0	13	258	365	-107
9	[[Image:Canterbury colours.svg	16x16px]] Canterbury	18	4	0	14	167	414	-247
10	[[Image:Western Suburbs colours.svg	16x16px]] Western Suburbs	18	3	0	15	186	459	-273

Ladder progression

Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 4.
Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round.
Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished last place on the ladder in that round.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
1	Newtown	2	2	4	6	8	10	12	13	15	17	17	19	21	23	25	27	29
2	St. George	2	4	6	8	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	22	22	24	26	28
3	Manly-Warringah	0	2	4	4	6	8	10	12	12	13	13	15	17	19	21	21	21
4	South Sydney	0	0	2	4	4	4	6	6	6	6	8	10	12	14	16	18	20
5	North Sydney	0	2	2	4	4	4	6	8	10	10	10	12	14	14	14	16	18
6	Eastern Suburbs	2	2	2	2	4	6	6	7	9	11	13	13	13	15	15	17	17
7	Balmain	2	4	4	4	6	6	6	6	6	7	9	9	11	13	13	13	15
8	Parramatta	0	0	0	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	6	6	6	6	8	8	8
9	Canterbury-Bankstown	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	4	6	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8
10	Western Suburbs	2	4	4	4	4	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6

Finals

Home	Score	Away	Match Information	Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Semifinals
[[Image:Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg	23x23px]] Manly-Warringah	12–14	[[Image:South Sydney colours.svg	23x23px]] South Sydney	27 August 1955	Sydney Cricket Ground	Darcy Lawler	35,677
[[Image:Newtown colours.svg	23x23px]] Newtown	11–8	[[Image:St. George colours.svg	23x23px]] St. George	3 September 1955	Sydney Cricket Ground	Darcy Lawler	34,158
Preliminary Final
[[Image:St. George colours.svg	23x23px]] St. George	14–18	[[Image:South Sydney colours.svg	23x23px]] South Sydney	10 September 1955	Sydney Cricket Ground	Col Pearce	41,583
Grand Final
[[Image:Newtown colours.svg	23x23px]] Newtown	11–12	[[Image:South Sydney colours.svg	23x23px]] South Sydney	17 September 1955	Sydney Cricket Ground	Col Pearce	42,466

Grand Final

Newtown	Position	South Sydney
13. Gordon Clifford	FB	15. Don Murdoch
12. Kevin Considine	WG	12. Ian Moir
10. Dick Poole (Ca./Co.)	CE	11. Martin Gallagher
9. Brian Clay	CE	18. Malcolm Spencer
11. Ray Preston	WG	29. Dale Puren
8. Ray Kelly	FE	14. John Dougherty
7. Bobby Whitton	HB	8. Col Donohoe
2. Don Stait	PR
27. Greg Ellis	HK	2. Ernie Hammerton
3. Les Hampson	PR	25. Norm Nilson
4. Henry Holloway	SR	4. Jack Rayner (Ca./Co.)
5. Frank Narvo	SR	5. Bernie Purcell
6. Peter Ryan	LK	6. Les Cowie

After their incredible eight game end-of-season run and having come from behind in both their semi-finals it looked unlikely that Souths’ fairytale would end happily on Grand Final day. They were without stars Clive Churchill and Greg Hawick. Newtown were the minor premiers and had eleven of their 1954 Grand Final side back for the 1955 decider, all fit, experienced and keen to avenge their 1954 loss.

The 1955 Grand Final was very closely fought out. Souths trailed 4–8 at half-time and the Bluebags looked home with an 11–7 lead with ten minutes remaining. In the final moments captain-coach Jack Rayner managed to win a strike in the play-the-ball and toed it through. Newtown lock Peter Ryan fumbled and again Rayner got the boot to it. Souths halfback Col Donohoe won the race and grounded the ball next to the posts, enabling an easy conversion by Bernie Purcell for the Rabbitohs to take a one-point lead.{{cite news | access-date = 2010-09-14}}

A last gasp long-range penalty goal attempt from Bluebags Gordon Clifford was unsuccessful (it passed between the posts but fractionally under the crossbar) and Souths won by a single point. Despite being the best performed side for two successive seasons Newtown had nothing in the trophy cabinet to show for it. Souths had timed an extraordinary premiership run to absolute perfection.

Jack Rayner's fifth grand final win that day stands along with Ken Kearney's five wins by 1960 as the most number of grand final successes by an individual as captain. As captain-coach for all of those wins Rayner was thus also the first man to coach a side to five grand final victories, a record subsequently matched by Jack Gibson and beaten in 2006 by Wayne Bennett.

** South Sydney 12** Tries: Moir, Donohoe. Goals: Purcell 3.

** Newtown 11** Try: Considine. Goals: Clifford 3. Field Goal: Clifford

Player statistics

The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 18. Top 5 point scorers

Points	Player	Tries	Goals
Doug Fleming	1	87	0
Gordon Clifford	0	84	0
Angus Kellock	0	70	0
Alan Arkey	1	64	1
Keith Barnes	1	60	0

Top 5 try scorers

Tries	Player	18	16	16	15	13	13
Brian Allsop
Ian Moir
Dick Poole
Kevin Considine
Kevin O'Brien
Johnny Tenison

Top 5 goal scorers

Goals	Player	87	84	70	64	60
Doug Fleming
Gordon Clifford
Angus Kellock
Alan Arkey
Keith Barnes

References

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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