1981 Tooth Cup Explained

Tourney Name:	NSWRFL Midweek Cup
Year:	1981
Other Titles:	NSWRFL Tooth Cup
Dates:	18 March - 12 August 1981
Num Teams:	16
Venues:	3
Cities:	3
Champion Other:	South Sydney
Count:	1
Second Other:	Cronulla-Sutherland
Matches:	23
Prevseason:	1980
Nextseason:	1982

The 1981 Tooth Cup was the 8th edition of the NSWRFL Midweek Cup, a NSWRFL-organised national club Rugby League tournament between the leading clubs and representative teams from the NSWRFL, the BRL, the CRL, the QRL and the NZRL.

16 teams from across Australia and New Zealand played 23 matches in a round-robin format, with teams playing 2 games each. The top 8 teams advanced to a knockout stage, with the matches being held midweek during the premiership season.

Qualified Teams

Team	Nickname	League	Qualification	Participation (bold indicates winners)
Canterbury-Bankstown	Bulldogs	NSWRFL	Winners of the 1980 New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership	8th
Eastern Suburbs	Roosters	NSWRFL	Runners-Up in the 1980 New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership	8th
Western Suburbs	Magpies	NSWRFL	Third Place in the 1980 New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership	8th
St. George	Dragons	NSWRFL	Fourth Place in the 1980 New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership	8th
South Sydney	Rabbitohs	NSWRFL	Fifth Place in the 1980 New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership	8th
Parramatta	Eels	NSWRFL	Sixth Place in the 1980 New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership	8th
Manly-Warringah	Sea Eagles	NSWRFL	Seventh Place in the 1980 New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership	8th
Newtown	Jets	NSWRFL	Eighth Place in the 1980 New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership	8th
Cronulla-Sutherland	Sharks	NSWRFL	Ninth Place in the 1980 New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership	8th
Balmain	Tigers	NSWRFL	Tenth Place in the 1980 New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership	8th
North Sydney	Bears	NSWRFL	Eleventh Place in the 1980 New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership	8th
Penrith	Panthers	NSWRFL	Twelfth Place in the 1980 New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership	8th
Brisbane	Poinsettias	BRL	League Representative Team	3rd
NSW Country	Kangaroos	CRL	Country League Representative Team	3rd
Queensland Country	Maroons	QRL	Country League Representative Team	3rd
Central Districts	Falcons	NZRL	Winners of the 1980 New Zealand Rugby League Inter-District Premiership	1st

Venues

Sydney	Brisbane	Lismore
Leichhardt Oval	Lang Park	Oakes Oval
Capacity: 23,000	Capacity: 45,000	Capacity: 12,000

Round 1

Date	Winner	Score	Loser	Score	Venue
18/03/81		21		5	Leichhardt Oval
25/03/81		24		17	Leichhardt Oval
1/04/81		20		14	Leichhardt Oval
8/04/81		20		8	Leichhardt Oval
15/04/81		29		11	Oakes Oval
22/04/81		51		11	Leichhardt Oval
29/04/81		23		19	Lang Park
20/05/81		24		2	Lang Park

Round 2

Date	Winner	Score	Loser	Score	Venue
6/05/81		21		15	Leichhardt Oval
13/05/81		31		5	Leichhardt Oval
27/05/81		23		14	Leichhardt Oval
27/05/81		19		18	Leichhardt Oval
3/06/81		21		5	Leichhardt Oval
10/06/81		33		7	Lang Park
10/06/81		25		5	Lang Park
17/06/81		13		9	Leichhardt Oval

Club	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	For	Against	Diff.	Points
	2	2	0	0	75	13	62	4
	2	2	0	0	46	10	36	4
	2	2	0	0	56	26	30	4
	2	2	0	0	43	22	21	4
	2	2	0	0	50	26	24	4
	2	2	0	0	39	32	7	4
	2	1	1	0	39	25	14	2
	2	1	1	0	39	38	1	2
	2	1	1	0	32	34	-2	2
	2	1	1	0	18	30	-12	2
	2	0	2	0	35	43	-8	0
	2	0	2	0	23	36	-13	0
	2	0	2	0	19	41	-22	0
	2	0	2	0	24	48	-24	0
	2	0	2	0	9	57	-48	0
Central Districts (NZ)	2	0	2	0	16	82	-66	0

Quarter finals

Date	Winner	Score	Loser	Score	Venue
24/06/81		22		7	Leichhardt Oval
1/07/81		23		19	Leichhardt Oval
8/07/81		16		13	Leichhardt Oval
15/07/81		23		9	Leichhardt Oval

Semi finals

Date	Winner	Score	Loser	Score	Venue
22/07/81		19		2	Leichhardt Oval
5/08/81		24		13	Leichhardt Oval

Final

The 1981 Tooth Cup Final attracted a still standing (as of 2020) Leichhardt Oval attendance record of 23,000.

Player of the Series

• Steve Rogers (Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks)

Golden Try

• Mitch Brennan (South Sydney)

Sources

• http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/