Mal Reilly was appointed Head Coach in 1987 and opened with six wins, four against France and two over Papua New Guinea. In 1987, Ellery Hanley was appointed Great Britain captain and on the 1988 tour down under took the Lions the closest they had been for a decade to regaining the Ashes. On 9 July 1988, Great Britain beat Australia 26–12 in Sydney to win the 3rd test, though the series had already been lost. This was the first British victory over Australia since their 18–14 win at the Odsal Stadium in Bradford on 5 November 1978. The third test also saw the smallest Anglo-Australian test attendance in Australia when only 15,944 attended the dead rubber game at the new Sydney Football Stadium. The first test played on 11 June and won 17–6 by Australia in front of 24,480 at the Sydney Football Stadium, was the 100th Anglo-Australian test match.