The 1996 Great Britain Lions tour was a rugby league tour by the Great Britain team which took place from September to November 1996. The tour included games in Papua New Guinea, Fiji and New Zealand, however due to the ongoing Super League war and with the Australian team under the control of the Australian Rugby League, the team did not play any matches in Australia. The tour was generally considered as a disaster, with Great Britain failing to win any games in New Zealand, and several players being sent home early from the tour in order to cut costs.^{[citation needed]}

Great Britain coach Phil Larder selected a 32-man squad to take on the tour. A notable omission from the squad was Martin Offiah, who took part in the previous three Great Britain tours, but had told Larder he did not have the enthusiasm for another six-week tour.^[1] Several changes were made to the initial squad selected, as Gary Connolly, Lee Jackson and Jason Robinson were informed they would not be allowed to play due to their contracts with the ARL.^[2] There were also a number of other withdrawals, with John Bentley returning to rugby union, and Shaun Edwards, Paul Newlove and Steve McNamara all ruled out due to injury.^[3]

Former Wigan second row forward Denis Betts, who was playing with the New Zealand-based Auckland Warriors in the Australian Rugby League premiership, made history with his selection. The 25 test veteran became the first player selected to tour while playing in the Australian premiership and not in the English premiership.

Larder's assistant coaches on the tour were Clive Griffiths and Gary Hetherington and the tour manager was Phil Lowe. Andy Farrell was appointed as the tour captain, with Denis Betts named as vice-captain.

More information Name, Club ...

Name	Club	Position	Appearances	Tests	Tries	Goals	DGs	Points
Denis Betts (vc)	Auckland Warriors	Second-row	6	5	3	0	0	12
David Bradbury	Oldham	Second-row	4	0	2	0	0	8
Paul Broadbent	Sheffield Eagles	Prop	6	5	0	0	0	0
Mick Cassidy	Wigan Warriors	Second-row	5	1	2	0	0	8
Jason Critchley	Keighley Cougars	Wing	3	0	1	0	0	4
Keiron Cunningham	St. Helens	Hooker	6	5	2	0	0	8
Bernard Dwyer	Bradford Bulls	Prop	4	1	1	0	0	4
Andy Farrell (c)	Wigan Warriors	Loose forward	6	5	1	0	0	4
Bobbie Goulding	St. Helens	Scrum-half	6	5	4	23	1	63
Karle Hammond	St. Helens	Stand-off	6	2	5	0	0	20
Neil Harmon	Leeds Rhinos	Prop	4	0	0	0	0	0
Iestyn Harris	Warrington Wolves	Stand-off	6	5	0	3	0	6
Joey Hayes	St. Helens	Wing	3	1	2	0	0	8
Alan Hunte	St. Helens	Wing	6	5	4	0	0	16
Chris Joynt	St. Helens	Second-row	6	4	0	0	0	0
James Lowes	Bradford Bulls	Hooker	4	0	2	0	0	8
Barrie-Jon Mather	Western Reds	Centre	5	2	1	0	0	4
Nathan McAvoy	Salford Red Devils	Wing	1	0	0	0	0	0
Brian McDermott	Bradford Bulls	Prop	4	1	0	0	0	0
Steve Molloy	Featherstone Rovers	Prop	6	2	0	0	0	0
Adrian Morley	Leeds Rhinos	Second-row	6	2	1	0	0	4
Terry O'Connor	Wigan Warriors	Prop	6	4	0	0	0	0
Rowland Phillips	Workington Town	Loose forward	4	1	0	0	0	0
Daryl Powell	Keighley Cougars	Centre	7	5	3	0	0	12
Steve Prescott	St. Helens	Fullback	4	0	1	17	0	38
Kris Radlinski	Wigan Warriors	Fullback	6	5	2	0	0	8
Jon Roper	Warrington Wolves	Wing	3	0	0	0	0	0
Paul Sculthorpe	Warrington Wolves	Loose forward	6	5	0	0	0	0
Keith Senior	Sheffield Eagles	Centre	6	2	3	0	0	12
Tony Smith	Castleford Tigers	Scrum-half	5	2	4	0	0	16
Stuart Spruce	Bradford Bulls	Fullback	6	5	3	0	0	12
Anthony Sullivan	St. Helens	Wing	6	4	3	0	0	12
Tulsen Tollett	London Broncos	Stand-off	5	0	1	0	0	4

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