During the 1982 New Zealand rugby league tour of Australia and Papua New Guinea, Boyd was selected to play for the Kangaroos at second-row forward in both Test matches against the Kiwis. Later that year, Boyd made his second Kangaroo Tour when he was part of the undefeated 1982 Kangaroos side who became known as "The Invincibles". Despite normally being a second row forward, he played all three tests against Great Britain in the front row, scoring a try in the first test at Boothferry Park in Hull. The hard running forward was sent off in the first half of the second test at Central Park in Wigan by French referee Julian Rascagneres for kicking Lions John Dalgreen. In fairness to Rascagneres, he had called a penalty against Boyd for a flop in the tackle and was looking back down field. This caused him to miss Dalgreen (who was on his back on the ground) lashing out at Boyd with his boot, kicking him in the shin as television replays clearly showed (the English-based touch judge also missed Dalgreen's kick, or ignored it, and only reported Boyd's retaliation). BBC commentator Ray French called Boyd's retaliation a "vicious kick", though it appeared he had also missed Dalgreen's action. Boyd's send-off didn't affect the Kangaroos though. Leading 15-4 at the time, they powered on to win the match 27-6 and along with it, retaining the Ashes they had held since the 1978 Kangaroo tour and keeping their record of not having lost a series in England since the 1959-60 Kangaroo tour.