In the fixture list for the 2005 Tournament, Great Britain will be facing New Zealand in the opening match in this country at Loftus Road, the home of Queen’s Park Rangers Football Club on Saturday, October 29.
Sports fans in the capital will have their first chance to see the Great Britain team in action since the 1997 Super League Test against Australia at Wembley Stadium.
And it will be the second year in succession that Loftus Road has hosted international Rugby League action having staged the sell-out Australia v New Zealand tie in the 2004 Tournament.
The fixture at Loftus Road will be game three in the tournament and will again be the opening event in the British section of the tournament.
The remaining qualifying fixtures will be staged at Wigan’s JJB Stadium, Huddersfield’s Galpharm Stadium and Hull’s KC Stadium while Elland Road, Leeds will once again host the Final.
For the 2005 Tournament the opening two qualifying group games will be staged in the southern hemisphere with Australia playing their home tie against New Zealand in Sydney and the return fixture taking place in Auckland.
Richard Lewis, the Rugby Football League’s Executive Chairman, said: “We’re fully expecting the 2005 Gillette Tri-Nations Tournament to be even better than last year’s successful first staging of this brand of international Rugby League.”
