Phil Lowe, who has died aged 74 following a long period living with dementia, was a member of the last Great Britain team to win the Rugby League World Cup and a stalwart of his home-town club, Hull Kingston Rovers, during their most successful period. Although his rugby league career spanned 17 seasons, during which he won every domestic honour available, his finest hour came in the international arena in France in 1972, when Great Britain faced the favourites, Australia, in the World Cup final in Lyon.
The two nations had met earlier in the tournament, when Lowe scored a vital try and topped the tackle count in a 27-21 British victory in Perpignan. The final is best remembered for the British captain Clive Sullivan’s length-of-the-field try, but in an otherwise dour game of attrition it was the British forwards, led by Lowe, who stifled and subdued a powerful Australian pack. The game was tied 10-10 after extra time, and with the trophy going to the team with the better record in the group stages Lowe’s performance in the Perpignan victory took on extra significance. Fifty-five years later, the Lions have yet to repeat their success.
A fearless opponent, with a high-stepping running style and exceptional speed for a 16st (101kg), 6ft 2in second-row forward, Lowe made his international debut in New Zealand in 1970 and went on to play 12 times for Great Britain and five times for England. Against the Australians again, he scored two tries in Britain’s 21-12 win at Wembley in the second of the three-match Rugby League Ashes series of 1973. However, the Lions lost the first and third test matches, meaning that a series win over the Kangaroos eluded him.
Born in Hull, East Yorkshire, Phil was the second son of Herbert, a builder, and Marion (nee Portlock), a school ancillary worker, and was raised and educated on Bilton Grange housing estate. His prowess as a junior player was noted by scouts of both the city’s professional rugby league clubs after he captained the Yorkshire Under-16s to county championship success. Choosing Hull Kingston Rovers rather than Hull FC, he signed professional forms on his 16th birthday.
He would play 418 times for the Robins, scoring 179 tries over 14 seasons – a remarkable tally for a forward – with a spell playing for Manly Sea Eagles in Australia sandwiched between his two stints at Hull KR. He was robust and adroit in equal measure, and his coach from that Word Cup-winning year, Jim Challinor, said that, despite his bulk, Lowe “handled the ball like a half-back”.
This finesse and his tackling prowess were to the fore during what was Lowe’s greatest domestic triumph. In May 1980 Rovers beat neighbours Hull FC 10-5 to win the Challenge Cup at Wembley in front of 95,000 spectators, the first and only time the club has lifted the sport’s most famous trophy. The Yorkshire Evening Post wrote: “Although Hull KR’s Brian Lockwood took home the Lance Todd Trophy for man-of-the-match ... Phil Lowe’s robust, tireless defence, wide running and unerring eye for an attacking opportunity was equally crucial to his team’s victory.”
Lowe experienced similar success at Manly, scoring his team’s only try in its 1976 Grand Final win over Parramatta at the Sydney Cricket Ground. He scored 25 tries in 72 appearances for the Sea Eagles but his time in Australia ended ignominiously. After Lowe announced he would be returning to Hull KR in 1976, Manly insisted they had first option on a retention clause inserted into his contract when Lowe first signed for them. With the Australian Rugby League maintaining Lowe was in breach of contract, the British Rugby Football League barred him from playing in England. The wrangling came to a head when Rovers selected him to play in the first round of the 1976-77 Premiership tournament. The club was expelled from the competition and Lowe resumed playing only after the high court in London eventually deemed him eligible.
Hull KR’s player of the season in 1968-69 and in 1972-73 (during which he scored 26 tries, a club record for a forward in one season), Lowe retired in 1983. Following a spell coaching York, he became a director at Rovers. He also managed pubs and properties across Hull.
Lowe is survived by his wife, Avril, daughter, Kate, and son, Andrew.
• Philip Thomas Lowe, rugby league player, born 19 January 1950; died 20 March 2024
