LEGENDARY York player Basil Watts will be lauded tomorrow as one of the British heroes who won the first-ever rugby World Cup - exactly half a century after the feat was achieved.

It will be 50 years to the day that Great Britain triumphed in the final of the inaugural Rugby League World Cup in France, beating the hosts 16-12 at Parc Des Prince in Paris.

And the Rugby Football League are to celebrate that accomplishment ahead of Saturday's Gillette Tri-Nations sell-out clash between the current Lions squad and Australia at Wigan's JJB Stadium.

Unfortunately, Watts, who still lives in his home city of York, is one of a few surviving members of the squad who cannot make it to the match, but he will nevertheless be among those commemorated.

The others - including another former York player, Mick Sullivan, who was with Huddersfield in 1954 - will be paraded before the fans and presented to Colin Love, chairman of the Rugby League International Federation and Australian Rugby League.

Each of the players, including Watts, will also receive a framed picture featuring caricatures of their squad.

Said Watts of Saturday's celebration: "I got an invite but unfortunately can't attend. I'm happy they're doing it though."

Of the 1954 exploits, he told the Evening Press: "It's always in your mind. It was the very first World Cup in rugby and I think that's what made it that bit more special. Things like that, you never forget them."

The feat of Watts and his comrades came on the back of a gruelling tour to Australia and New Zealand, which forced a few key players to miss the tournament. Indeed, the Lions were written off by many observers as no-hopers.

Said Watts: "We played the Aussies in the first match. They had just won the Ashes in Australia but we beat them. Then we played France and drew with them, and then we beat New Zealand. The top two teams met in the final and we played France in Paris. It was a memorable occasion."

Second-rower Watts, who despite his achievements shies away from fanfare, played his entire career with York, comprising 354 games and more than ten years.

He added: "There are seven players who have played for Great Britain while they were at York but I'm the only one to have played in a World Cup. That makes me proud in a way."

Unlike their England rugby union counterparts of last year, who all received Orders of the British Empire for winning their World Cup while coach Clive Woodward was knighted, the league boys have never been honoured for their similar achievements of 50 years ago.

Their World Cup - which preceded the union equivalent by more than 30 years - featured far fewer teams than last year's union bonanza, but it has been argued their achievement was no less impressive as big rugby nations Australia, New Zealand and France provided as big a challenge to Great Britain then as Woodward's men faced last year.

The GB rugby league World Cup-winning squads of 1960 and 1972 have also been ignored in Honours lists and, if this ever changed, it could mean an award for another ex-York hero, Jeff Stevenson, who played for the Lions in 1960.

Updated: 09:41 Friday, November 12, 2004