1955 NSWRFL season

1955 NSWRFL season
Teams	10
Premiers	South Sydney (16th title)
Minor premiers	Newtown (6th title)
Matches played	94
Points scored	3253 (total) 34.606 (per match)
Top try scorer(s)	Brian Allsop (18) Ian Moir (18)

1955's New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the forty-eighth season of the rugby league competition based in Sydney. Ten teams from across the city competed for the J. J. Giltinan Shield during the season, which culminated in a re-play of the previous season's Grand Final between the South Sydney and Newtown clubs.^[1]

Season summary

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

In the 2nd last match of the season Souths met Manly and were behind 7-4 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 further part in Souths' 1955 finals campaign.

Teams

Balmain	Canterbury-Bankstown	Eastern Suburbs	Manly-Warringah
Newtown	North Sydney	Parramatta	South Sydney
	St. George	Western Suburbs

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Newtown	18	14	1	3	376	179	+197	29
2	St. George	18	14	0	4	396	247	+149	28
3	Manly	18	11	1	6	332	245	+87	23
4	South Sydney	18	11	0	7	367	260	+107	22
5	North Sydney	18	10	0	8	345	278	+67	20
6	Eastern Suburbs	18	8	1	9	342	325	+17	17
7	Balmain	18	8	1	9	384	381	+3	17
8	Parramatta	18	5	0	13	258	365	-107	10
9	Canterbury	18	4	0	14	167	414	-247	8
10	Western Suburbs	18	3	0	15	186	459	-273	6

Finals

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Semi Finals
Manly-Warringah	12-14	South Sydney	27 August 1955	Sydney Cricket Ground	Darcy Lawler	35,677
Newtown	11-8	St. George	3 September 1955	Sydney Cricket Ground	Darcy Lawler	34,158
Preliminary Final
St. George	14-18	South Sydney	10 September 1955	Sydney Cricket Ground	Col Pearce	41,583
Grand Final
Newtown	11-12	South Sydney	17 September 1955	Sydney Cricket Ground	Col Pearce	42,466

Grand Final

South Sydney	Position	Newtown
Don Murdoch	FB	Gordon Clifford
Ian Moir	WG	Kevin Considine
Martin Gallagher	CE	Dick Poole (Ca./Co.)
Malcolm Spencer	CE	Brian Clay
Dale Puren	WG	Ray Preston
John Dougherty	FE	Ray Kelly
Col Donohoe	HB	Bobby Whitton
Denis Donoghue	PR	Les Hampson
Ernie Hammerton	HK	Greg Ellis
Norm Nilson	PR	Don Stait
Bernie Purcell	SR	Frank Narvo
Jack Rayner (Ca./Co.)	SR	Henry Holloway
Les Cowie	LK	Peter Ryan

After their incredible nine game end of season run and having come from behind in both their semi-finals it looked unlikely that South's 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 8-4 at half-time and the Bluebags looked home with a 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.^[2]

A last gasp long-range penalty goal attempt from Bluebags fullback Gordon Clifford was unsuccessful 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 Tries: Considine. Goals: Clifford 3. Fld Goal: Clifford

References

1. ^ Goodman, Tom. "Churchill decides not to play in R.L. Grand Final". The Sydney Morning Herald: pp. 13. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oIgTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tuQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7293,4049720. Retrieved 2009-11-20. ^{[dead link]}
2. ^ Clarkson, Alan (1986-09-26). "The best Grand Finals I've seen". The Sydney Morning Herald (Fairfax Media): pp. 77. http://newsstore.fairfax.com.au/apps/viewDocument.ac?page=1&sy=smh&Page=1&docID=news860926_0120_2297. Retrieved 2010-09-14. 

• Rugby League Tables - Season 1955 The World of Rugby League
• Results: 1951-60 at rabbitohs.com.au
• 1955 J J Giltinan Shield at rleague.com
• NSWRFL season 1955 at rugbyleagueproject.com