The 1910 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand was the first international tour of the Great Britain national rugby league team, "The Lions". They played the second ever Ashes series against Australia, and their first as the visiting team, before travelling to Auckland to take on New Zealand. The tour was a huge promotional and financial success for what was then known as the "Northern Union" game and helped set the pattern for regular, alternating test match series between Britain and Australia. It is regarded as one of the most important events in the history of rugby league. Despite the selection of several Welsh players in the touring squad, the team is sometimes referred to as "England". They went south from Manchester in early April to London, then travelled by ship for six weeks before reaching Australia. Led by Salford captain James Lomas, the tour was a huge success for the Lions who won all their test matches with Lomas topping the tour scoring charts with 136 points in 13 games. Touring squad The team originally scheduled to tour consisted of eighteen internationals: nine English, eight Welsh and one Scottish. All players were from clubs that participated in the 1909–10 Northern Rugby Football Union season's Championship. The players were also accompanied by joint managers, J. H. Houghton and J. Clifford as well as trainer D. Murray. Several Australians (including Jim Devereux, Dan Frawley and Andy Morton) also appeared for the tourists as guest players in a match against Newcastle on 18 June 1910. Australian leg The Australian leg of the tour took place during the 1910 NSWRFL season, the third season of rugby league football in Australia since the game's split from rugby union. Test Venues The two Ashes series tests took place at the following venues. Versus New South Wales Before the test series, the British played three matches against New South Wales, losing the first 14 – 28 and the second 20 – 27. 10,000 people saw the match on 29 May whose margin never went beyond more than five points. This was the third match and first win of the visitors' series against New South Wales, with their captain, Jim Lomas featuring prominently. Ashes series Sydney's Royal Agricultural Showground was the venue for the first Ashes test on Australian soil. Five former Wallaby teammates made their rugby league test debuts for Australia in this