1964 NSWRFL season

1964 NSWRFL season
Teams	10
Premiers	St. George (11th title)
Minor premiers	St. George (10th title)
Matches played	94
Points scored	2736 (total) 29.106 (per match)
Attendance	1,197,569 (total) 12,740 (per match)
Top try scorer(s)	Reg Gasnier (18)

The 1964 NSWRFL season was the fifty-seventh season of Sydney's professional rugby league football competition, the New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership, Australia's first. Ten clubs from across the city competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and the WD & HO Wills Cup during the season, which culminated in a grand final between St. George and Balmain.

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	St. George	18	15	0	3	393	154	+239	30
2	Parramatta	18	14	0	4	274	188	+86	28
3	Balmain	18	12	0	6	247	192	+55	24
4	North Sydney	18	11	1	6	334	257	+77	23
5	South Sydney	18	11	0	7	304	250	+54	22
6	Newtown	18	9	0	9	236	268	-32	18
7	Western Suburbs	18	8	1	9	259	274	-15	17
8	Manly	18	5	1	12	229	331	-102	11
9	Eastern Suburbs	18	2	0	16	190	351	-161	4
10	Canterbury	18	1	1	16	168	369	-201	3

Finals

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Semi Finals
Balmain	11-9	North Sydney	29 August 1964	Sydney Cricket Ground	Jack Bradley	35,082
St. George	42-0	Parramatta	5 September 1964	Sydney Cricket Ground	Col Pearce	33,659
Preliminary Final
Parramatta	7-16	Balmain	12 September 1964	Sydney Cricket Ground	Col Pearce	35,389
Grand Final
St. George	11-6	Balmain	19 September 1964	Sydney Cricket Ground	Col Pearce	61,369

Grand Final

St. George	Position	Balmain
Graeme Langlands	FB	Keith Barnes (c)
Johnny King	WG	Dick Quinn
Reg Gasnier	CE	Brian Dunlop
Billy Smith	CE	Robert Ridley
Eddie Lumsden	WG	Bob Mara
Brian Clay	FE	Jack Danzey
George Evans	HB	Bill Bischoff
Monty Porter	PR	Bob Boland
Peter Armstrong	HK	Dick Wilson
Kevin Ryan	PR	George Piper
Elton Rasmussen	SR	Ron Clothier
Norm Provan (Ca./Co.)	SR	Peter Provan
Johnny Raper	LK	Dennis Tutty
	Coach	Harry Bath

St George captain-coach Norm Provan was matching up against his younger brother (& former Dragon) Peter, who had moved to the Tigers in 1961.

The Tigers defence was strong throughout a dour first half and for the first time in nine grand finals the Dragons trailed at half-time (4-2) with Balmain in the lead after penalty goals from Keith "Golden Boots" Barnes.

The turning point of the match came five minutes into the second half. The Tigers were defending their own line with some desperate tackling when they received a relieving penalty from referee Pearce. Balmain's Bob Boland put in a big punt which at first looked like a good touch finder. To Balmain's horror, Graeme Langlands stretched and then caught the ball with his boots only an inch or two from the touchline. The champion fullback then raced cross-field towards the Balmain line and sent a cut-out pass to Billy Smith 25 yards out from the tryline. The centre made further inroads before channeling a pass to Johnny King who sped down the left wing for 20 yards to score a diving try.

Test winger King thus kept intact his grand final record with this being his fifth successive try in a decider.

Eighteen-year-old Dennis Tutty stood out for the Tigers, providing reliable cover defence that stopped the Dragons on numerous occasions. For St. George, Smith and Langlands had strong games with Langlands tallying 72 points in his last four games of the season. Brian Clay had by now reclaimed his five-eighth position from Bruce Pollard and excelled just as he had in his five previous Grand Final appearances.

St. George 11 (Tries: King. Goals: Langlands 4.)

Balmain 6 (Goals: Barnes 3.)

References

• Rugby League Tables - Season 1964 The World of Rugby League
• Writer, Larry (1995) Never Before, Never Again, Pan MacMillan, Sydney
• Results: 1961-70 at rabbitohs.com
• 1964 J J Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup at rleague.com
• NSWRFL season 1964 at rugbyleagueproject.com
• St. George 1964 season at showroom.com.au