1978–79 Northern Rugby Football League season

League

Northern Rugby Football League

Champions

Hull Kingston Rovers

Premiership

Leeds

Man of Steel

Doug Laughton

Top point-scorer(s)

Sammy Lloyd (373)

Top try-scorer(s)

Steve Hartley (35)

Promotion and relegation

Promoted from Second Division

Hull

New Hunslet

York

Blackpool Borough

Relegated to Second Division

Barrow

Featherstone Rovers

Rochdale Hornets

Huddersfield

< 1977–78	Seasons	1979–80 >

The 1978–79 Northern Rugby Football League season was the 83rd season of rugby league football. Sixteen English clubs competed for the Northern Rugby Football League's first division championship, with Hull Kingston Rovers claiming the title by finishing on top of the League.

Season summary

The 1978 Kangaroo tour took place during the first half of the season and involved matches between a number of clubs.

Hull Kingston Rovers won their third Championship this season.

The Challenge Cup Winners were Widnes who beat Wakefield Trinity 12-3 in the final.

Rugby League Premiership Trophy Winners were Leeds who beat Bradford Northern 24-2 in the final.

The BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Winners were Widnes who beat St. Helens 13-7 in the final.

2nd Division Champions were Hull. New Hunslet, York and Blackpool Borough were also promoted to the First Division.^[1]

Geoff 'Sammy' Lloyd of Hull equalled the club match record for scoring goals when he was successful 14 times in the match against Oldham on 10 September 1978. They were part of a club record 170 goals in a season, and a club record 369 points in a season.^[2]

Widnes beat Workington Town (from Cumbria) 15–13 to win the Lancashire Cup, and Bradford Northern beat York 18–8 to win the Yorkshire Cup.

League Tables

Championship

Final Standings

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	Pts
1	Hull Kingston Rovers	30	23	0	7	616	344	46
2	Warrington	30	22	0	8	521	340	44
3	Widnes	30	21	2	7	480	322	44
4	Leeds	30	19	1	10	555	370	39
5	St Helens	30	16	2	12	485	379	34
6	Wigan	30	16	1	13	484	411	33
7	Castleford	30	16	1	13	498	469	33
8	Bradford Northern	30	16	0	14	523	416	32
9	Workington Town	30	13	3	14	378	345	29
10	Wakefield Trinity	30	13	1	16	382	456	27
11	Leigh	30	13	1	16	406	535	27
12	Salford	30	11	2	17	389	435	24
13	Barrow	30	9	2	19	368	536	20
14	Featherstone Rovers	30	8	1	21	501	549	17
15	Rochdale Hornets	30	8	0	22	297	565	16
16	Huddersfield	30	7	1	22	314	725	15

Second Division

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	Pts
1	Hull	26	26	0	0	702	175	52
2	New Hunslet	26	21	1	4	454	218	43
3	York	26	17	1	8	426	343	35
4	Blackpool Borough	26	15	3	8	321	272	33
5	Halifax	26	15	2	9	312	198	32
6	Dewsbury	26	15	0	11	368	292	30
7	Keighley	26	12	2	12	357	298	26
8	Bramley	26	12	1	13	375	342	25
9	Oldham	26	10	1	15	297	435	21
10	Whitehaven	26	8	3	15	297	408	19
11	Swinton	26	7	2	17	349	452	16
12	Doncaster	26	7	0	19	259	547	14
13	Huyton	26	3	3	20	261	513	9
14	Batley	26	4	1	21	194	479	9	_

	Champions		Play-offs		Promoted		Relegated

Challenge Cup

Widnes beat Wakefield Trinity 12-3 in the State Express Challenge Cup final played at Wembley before a crowd of 94,218.^[3]

This was Widnes’s fifth cup final win in seven final appearances. To date, this was Wakefield Trinity’s last appearance in a Challenge Cup Final.

The Wakefield Trinity Stand-off/Five-eighth, David Topliss, won the Lance Todd Trophy.

Statistics

The following are the top points scorers in the 1978–79 season.^[4]

Most tries

Player	Team	Tries
Steve Hartley	Hull Kingston Rovers	35
Stuart Wright	Widnes	28
David Barends	Bradford Northern	25
Phil Lowe	Hull Kingston Rovers	25
Paul Prendiville	Hull	25
Keith Fielding	Salford	24
David Redfearn	Bradford Northern	23
Roy Mathias	St Helens	22
Graham Bray	Hull	21
Keiron O'Loughlin	Wigan	21
Clive Sullivan	Hull Kingston Rovers	21

Most goals (including drop goals)

Player	Team	Goals
Sammy Lloyd	Hull	172
Steve Hesford	Warrington	170
Mick Burke	Widnes	140
Iain McCorquodale	Workington Town	114
Geoff Pimblett	St. Helens	105
Graham Beale	Keighley	96
John Woods	Leigh	96
Jimmy Birts	Halifax	86
George Fairbairn	Wigan	86
Phil Norton	Castleford	82

References

↑ "1978-79 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-09-25. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
↑ "Hull F.C. History". Retrieved 2009-10-23.
↑ "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 2009-09-25. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
↑ Fletcher, Raymond; Howes, David. Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1997. London: Headline. pp. 163–7. ISBN 978-0-7472-7764-4.

Sources

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Hull Kingston Rovers

Founded in 1882 • Based in Kingston upon Hull, England

The Club	History Records Honours International representative players Coaches

Home grounds	Albert Street Anlaby Road Chalk Lane Hessle Road (2) Craven Street Ground The Boulevard Craven Park New Craven Park

Hall of Fame	Jonty Parkin Neil Fox Roger Millward

League	Super League

Championships (5)	1922–23 1924–25 1978–79 1983–84 1984–85

Challenge Cup (1)	1979–80

Seasons (x)	2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Affiliation	Rugby Football League (1897)