1979 Amco Cup
The 1979 Amco Cup was a rugby league football tournament featuring teams from around the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland as well as New Zealand. The tournament was played from March to August 1979, culminating in the final between the Sydney club Cronulla-Sutherland and Combined Brisbane.
Format
The format of the sixth midweek cup competition changed to 4 groups of 4 playing each other once in a round-robin, with the winners of each group progressing to the Semi-Finals.
The 38 teams from 1978 were reduced substantially to 16 due to the number of games which were walkovers the previous year. 3 new teams were introduced. They were Combined Brisbane, NSW Country and QLD Country whilst 9 Brisbane Premiership teams (Brothers, Easts BRL, Fortitude Valley, Ipswich, Norths BRL, Redcliffe, Souths BRL, Wests BRL and Wynnum-Manly), 8 New South Wales divisional teams (Illawarra, Monaro, Newcastle, North Coast, Northern Division, Riverina, Southern Division and Western Division), Central Queensland, Gold Coast, North Queensland, Northern Territory, Toowoomba, Wellington NZ, Western Australia and Wide Bay were left out after playing in the 1978 competition.
The competition was composed of the 12 Sydney premiership teams (Balmain, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cronulla-Sutherland, Eastern Suburbs, Manly-Warringah, Newtown, North Sydney, Parramatta, Penrith, St George, South Sydney and Western Suburbs), Auckland, Combined Brisbane, NSW Country and QLD Country.
The four groups were:
Group A – Combined Brisbane, Eastern Suburbs, Manly-Warringah, St George
Group B – Auckland, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cronulla-Sutherland, Penrith
Group C – Newtown, North Sydney, Parramatta, QLD Country
Group D – Balmain, NSW Country, South Sydney, Western Suburbs
Group A
| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Score | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28/03/79 |  Eastern Suburbs |
19 |  Manly-Warringah |
7 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 2/05/79 |  Combined Brisbane |
13 |  St George |
10 | Lang Park |
| 30/05/79 | Eastern Suburbs |
12 | St George |
6 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 27/06/79 | Combined Brisbane |
13 | Manly-Warringah |
10 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 18/07/79 | St George |
7 | Manly-Warringah |
4 | Griffith |
| 25/07/79 | Combined Brisbane |
17 | Eastern Suburbs |
8 | Lang Park |
| Club | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn | For | Against | Diff. | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Combined Brisbane |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 28 | 15 | 6 |
| Eastern Suburbs |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 39 | 30 | 9 | 4 |
| St George |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 23 | 29 | -6 | 2 |
| Manly-Warringah |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 21 | 39 | -18 | 0 |
Group B
| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Score | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4/04/79 |  Cronulla-Sutherland |
22 |  Canterbury-Bankstown |
8 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 11/04/79 |  Penrith |
12 | Auckland |
5 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 9/05/79 | Penrith |
18 | Cronulla-Sutherland |
10 | Penrith Park |
| 30/05/79 | Canterbury-Bankstown |
12 | Auckland |
3 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 4/07/79 | Canterbury-Bankstown |
18 | Penrith |
10 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 11/07/79 | Cronulla-Sutherland |
30 | Auckland |
10 | Leichhardt Oval |
| Club | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn | For | Against | Diff. | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cronulla-Sutherland |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 62 | 36 | 26 | 4 |
| Penrith |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 40 | 33 | 7 | 4 |
| Canterbury-Bankstown |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 38 | 35 | 3 | 4 |
| Auckland |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 18 | 54 | -36 | 0 |
Group C
| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Score | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19/04/79 |  Parramatta |
44 |  North Sydney |
10 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 15/05/79 |  QLD Country |
16 |  Newtown |
14 | Lang Park |
| 13/06/79 | Newtown |
15 | Parramatta |
13 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 21/06/79 | QLD Country |
12 | North Sydney |
5 | Lang Park |
| 4/07/79 | QLD Country |
18 | Parramatta |
9 | Lang Park |
| 12/07/79 | North Sydney |
35 | Newtown |
13 | Leichhardt Oval |
| Club | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn | For | Against | Diff. | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QLD Country |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 28 | 18 | 6 |
| Parramatta |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 66 | 43 | 23 | 2 |
| North Sydney |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 50 | 69 | -19 | 2 |
| Newtown |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 42 | 64 | -22 | 2 |
Group D
| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Score | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25/04/79 |  Western Suburbs |
22 |  Balmain |
11 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 23/05/79 |  South Sydney |
25 |  NSW Country |
10 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 6/06/79 | NSW Country |
14 | Western Suburbs |
11 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 20/06/79 | Balmain |
5 | South Sydney |
3 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 11/07/79 | Balmain |
25 | NSW Country |
11 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 18/07/79 | South Sydney |
9 | Western Suburbs |
7 | Leichhardt Oval |
| Club | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn | For | Against | Diff. | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Sydney |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 37 | 22 | 15 | 4 |
| Balmain |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 41 | 36 | 5 | 4 |
| Western Suburbs |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 40 | 34 | 6 | 2 |
| NSW Country |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 35 | 61 | -26 | 2 |
Semi finals
| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Score | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/08/79 | Cronulla-Sutherland |
13 | South Sydney |
9 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 8/08/79 | Combined Brisbane |
8 | QLD Country |
5 | Lang Park |
Final
15 August
|
| Cronulla-Sutherland | 22-5 | Combined Brisbane |
|---|---|---|
| Tries: Gary Cameron (3), Rick Bourke Goals: Steve Rogers (5) |
Try: Norm Carr Goal: Mal Meninga |
Player of the Series
Golden Try
Sources
- ^ Curran, Brian (16 August 1979). "Cronulla all the way in Cup final". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 15 April 2011.