1994–95 Regal Trophy

1994-95 Regal Trophy

Structure	National knockout championship
Number of teams	48
Winners	Wigan
Runners-up	Warrington
< 1993-94 Seasons 1995-96 >

1994–95 Regal Trophy

1994-95 was the twenty-fourth season for the Regal Trophy competition .
This season saw Warrington making their seventh final appearance in a John Player trophy final (having won four times) and Wigan making their eight appearance (with six previous wins). Wigan were also returning after being last season's runner-up
Wigan won the trophy by beating Warrington by the score of 40-10
The match was played at The McAlpine Stadium, Stadium Way, Huddersfield, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 19,636 and receipts were (£unknown)
The attendance was the fifth highest in the competition's history, the winning score and aggregate scores were a record, but failed to beat last season's winning margin
It was also the tenth season in the run of eleven consecutive seasons in which Wigan almost monopolised the Player Trophy competition. During these eleven years Wigan won the trophy on seven occasions, were runner-up once, and losing semi-finalists once, leaving only two seasons which they failed to reach the semi-final

Background

This season saw no changes from last season's re-vamping, with no new members and no withdrawals, the number remaining at forty-eight.
The entrants still included two French clubs and eleven junior clubs
The sixteen First Round winners added to the sixteen clubs given byes, gave a total of entrants into the second round as thirty-two.

Competition and Results^[1][2] =

Round 1 - First Round - (a Preliminary Round)

Involved 16 matches and 32 clubs, with 16 byes

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 19 Nov 1994	Hunslet		14-18		AS Saint Estève	Elland Road	521		1
2	Sun 20 Nov 1994	Dewsbury		22-4		XIII Catalan	Crown Flatt	1196		2
3	Thu 24 Nov 1994	Barrow		138-0		Nottingham City	Craven Park	500		3
4	Sat 26 Nov 1994	Huddersfield		142-4		Blackpool Gladiators	Alfred McAlpine Stadium	1111		4
5	Sun 27 Nov 1994	Batley		38-8		Queens	Mount Pleasant	607		5
6	Sun 27 Nov 1994	Bramley		40-14		Myson (Hull)	McLaren Field	302		6
7	Sun 27 Nov 1994	Carlisle		25-12		Bradford Dudley Hill	Gifford Park	206		7
8	Sun 27 Nov 1994	Highfield		12-6		Ovenden (Halifax)	Hoghton Road Stadium	285		8
9	Sun 27 Nov 1994	Hull KR		48-8		Hensingham	Craven Park (2)	1158		9
10	Sun 27 Nov 1994	Keighley Cougars		56-0		Chorley Borough (2)	Cougar Park	2370
11	Sun 27 Nov 1994	Leigh		18-12		Leigh Miners' Welfare	Hilton Park	2561		10
12	Sun 27 Nov 1994	London Crusaders		34-16		Hemel Stags	Barnet Copthall	668		11
13	Sun 27 Nov 1994	Rochdale Hornets		34-10		Woolston Rovers	Spotland	576		12
14	Sun 27 Nov 1994	Ryedale-York		26-9		West Hull	Ryedale Stadium	668		13
15	Sun 27 Nov 1994	Swinton		32-26		Saddleworth (Oldham)	Gigg Lane	380		14
16	Sun 27 Nov 1994	Whitehaven		66-0		Thatto Heath	Recreation Ground	686		15
1		Bradford Northern				bye
2		Castleford				bye
3		Doncaster				bye
4		Featherstone Rovers				bye
5		Halifax				bye
6		Hull F.C.				bye
7		Leeds				bye
8		Oldham				bye
9		St Helens				bye
10		Salford				bye
11		Sheffield Eagles				bye
12		Wakefield Trinity				bye
13		Warrington				bye
14		Widnes				bye
15		Wigan				bye
16		Workington Town				bye

Round 2 Second Round^[3]

Involved 16 matches and 32 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 3 Dec 1994	Carlisle		16-30		Dewsbury	Gifford Park	287
2	Sat 3 Dec 1994	Castleford		32-26		Halifax	The Jungle	4740
3	Sun 4 Dec 1994	Highfield		2-50		Widnes	Hoghton Road Stadium	1199			[4]
4	Sun 4 Dec 1994	Huddersfield		11-52		St Helens	Alfred McAlpine Stadium	5534			[5]
5	Sun 4 Dec 1994	Hull F.C.		26-16		Barrow	Boulevard	2325			[6]
6	Sun 4 Dec 1994	Keighley Cougars		28-4		Bramley	Cougar Park	2515
7	Sun 4 Dec 1994	Leeds		54-24		Swinton	Headingley	4867
8	Sun 4 Dec 1994	Oldham		28-0		Hull KR	Watersheddings	2277
9	Sun 4 Dec 1994	Salford		16-14		London Crusaders	The Willows	2088
10	Sun 4 Dec 1994	Sheffield Eagles		46-10		Leigh	Don Valley Stadium	870
11	Sun 4 Dec 1994	Warrington		44-14		Doncaster	Wilderspool	3581			[7]
12	Sun 4 Dec 1994	Whitehaven		18-12		Featherstone Rovers	Recreation Ground	1248
13	Sun 4 Dec 1994	Wigan		34-12		Rochdale Hornets	Central Park	7493			[2]
14	Sun 4 Dec 1994	Workington Town		24-8		Wakefield Trinity	Derwent Park	2349			[8]
15	Wed 7 Dec 1994	Batley		36-8		Ryedale-York	Mount Pleasant	719
16	Wed 7 Dec 1994	Bradford Northern		32-6		Saint Estève	Odsal	2250

Round 3 - Third Round^[9]

Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 17 Dec 1994	Salford		24-31		Warrington	The Willows	2189			[7]
2	Sun 18 Dec 1994	Batley		22-22		St Helens	Mount Pleasant	3017			[5]
3	Sun 18 Dec 1994	Hull F.C.		14-38		Wigan	Boulevard	6203			[2][6]
4	Sun 18 Dec 1994	Keighley Cougars		26-10		Sheffield Eagles	Cougar Park	3914
5	Sun 18 Dec 1994	Whitehaven		14-34		Bradford Northern	Recreation Ground	1962
6	Sun 18 Dec 1994	Widnes		20-6		Oldham	Naughton Park	3517			[4]
7	Sun 18 Dec 1994	Workington Town		14-18		Leeds	Derwent Park	3648
8	Tue 20 Dec 1994	Dewsbury		2-30		Castleford	Crown Flatt	3325

Round 3 - Third Round Replays

Involved 1 match and 2 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Tue 20 Dec 1994	St Helens		50-22		Batley	Knowsley Road	4940			[5]

Round 4 -Quarter Finals^[10]

Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 7 Jan 1995	Leeds		14-34		Castleford	Headingley	10650
2	Sun 8 Jan 1995	Keighley Cougars		18-20		Warrington	Cougar Park	5685			[7]
3	Sun 8 Jan 1995	Widnes		23-10		Bradford Northern	Naughton Park	4807		16	[4]
4	Sun 8 Jan 1995	Wigan		24-22		St Helens	Central Park	23278			[2][5]

Round 5 – Semi-Finals^[11]

Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 14 Jan 1995	Widnes		4-30		Warrington	Naughton Park	6181			[4][7]
2	Sun 15 Jan 1995	Wigan		34-6		Castleford	Central Park	13006			[2]

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Sat 28 Jan 1995	Wigan		40-10		Warrington	Alfred McAlpine Stadium	19636		17	[7][12]

Teams and Scorers^[12]

Wigan	No	Warrington
	teams
Henry Paul	1	Jonathan Davies
Jason Robinson	2	Mark Forster
Va'aiga Tuigamala	3	Allan Bateman
Gary Connolly	4	Iestyn Harris
Martin Offiah	5	Rob Myler
Frano Botica	6	Francis Maloney
Shaun Edwards	7	Greg Mackey
Kelvin Skerrett	8	Gary Tees
Martin Hall	9	Tukere Barlow
Neil Cowie	10	Bruce McGuire
Denis Betts	11	Paul Cullen
Mick Cassidy	12	Paul Darbyshire
Phil Clarke	13	Kelly Shelford
Paul Atcheson (for Va'aiga Tuigamala 56 min)	14	Andrew Bennett (for Tukere Barlow 66 min)
Barrie McDermott (for Neil Cowie Half Time)	15	Gary Sanderson (for Paul Darbyshire 18 min)
Graeme West	Coach	Reg Bowden
40	score	10
28	HT	4
	Scorers
	Tries
Va'aiga Tuigamala (2)	T	Mark Forster (2)
Frano Botica (1)	T
Gary Connolly (1)	T
Barrie McDermott (1)	T
Martin Offiah (1)	T
	Goals
Frano Botica (8)	G	Jonathan Davies (1)
Referee		Stuart Cummings (Widnes)
Man of the match		Phil Clarke - Wigan - loose forward
Competition Sponsor		regal trophy

Scoring - Try = four (4) points - Goal = two (2) points - Drop goal = one (1) point

Prize Money

As part of the sponsorship deal and funds, the prize money awarded to the competing teams for this season is as follows :-

Finish Position	Cash Prize	No. receiving prize	Total Cash
Winner	?	1	?
Runner-up	?	1	?
semi-finalist	?	2	?
loser in Rd 3	?	4	?
loser in Rd 2	?	8	?
Loser in Rd 1	?	16	?
Loser in Prelim Round	?	16	?
Grand Total

Note - the author is unable to trace the award amounts for this season. Can anyone help ?

The road to success

This tree excludes the First Round fixtures

	Second Round					Third Round					Fourth Round					Semi Finals					Final
	Hull F.C.		26
	Barrow		16
						Hull F.C.		14
						Wigan		38
	Wigan		34
	Rochdale Hornets		12
											Wigan		24
											St Helens		22
	Batley		36
	Ryedale-York		8
						Batley		22 (22)
						St Helens		22 (50)
	Huddersfield		11
	St Helens		52
																Wigan		34
																Castleford		6
	Workington Town		24
	Wakefield Trinity		8
						Workington Town		14
						Leeds		18
	Leeds		54
	Swinton		24
											Leeds		14
											Castleford		34
	Carlisle		16
	Dewsbury		30
						Dewsbury		2
						Castleford		30
	Castleford		36
	Halifax		26
																					Wigan		40
																					Warrington		10
	Highfield		2
	Widnes		50
						Widnes		20
						Oldham		6
	Oldham		28
	Hull KR		0
											Widnes		23
											Bradford Northern		10
	Whitehaven		18
	Featherstone Rovers		12
						Whitehaven		14
						Bradford Northern		34
	Bradford Northern		32
	Saint Estève		6
																Widnes		4
																Warrington		30
	Keighley Cougars		28
	Bramley		4
						Keighley Cougars		26
						Sheffield Eagles		10
	Sheffield Eagles		46
	Leigh		10
											Keighley Cougars		18
											Warrington		20
	Salford		16
	London Crusaders		14
						Salford		24
						Warrington		31
	Warrington		44
	Doncaster		14

Notes and comments

1 * AS Saint Estève was a French rugby league team from Perpignan, which in 2000 it merged with nearby neighbours XIII Catalan to form Union Treiziste Catalaneto compete in the Super Leagueas the Catalans Dragons.
2 * XIII Catalan were a French rugby league team from Perpignan, founded in 1935, founding members of the French rugby league championship. In 2000 they merged with AS Saint Estève to form Union Treiziste Catalane (or Catalans Dragons)
3 * The highest score and the highest winning margin, at the time. The record stood for approximately two days before it was beaten. This record includes club records of (1) joint highest try scorer in a match by Steve Rowan with 6 tries, (2) highest number of goals kicked in a match by Darren Carter with 17, and (3) the highest number of points in a match also by Darren Carter with 17 goalds and 2 tries making a total of 42
4 * This beat the record for the highest score, and equalled the at of the highest aggregate win, set two days earlier. This record included the all time British record of most tries by a centre in a match when Greg Austin scored 9 tries
5 * Queens are a Junior (amateur) club from Leeds
6 * Myson are a Junior (amateur) club from Hull
7 * Bradford Dudley Hill are a Junior (amateur) club from Bradford
8 * Ovenden are a Junior (amateur) club from Halifax
9 * Hensingham are a Junior (amateur) club from Leigh^[13]
10 * Leigh Miners' Welfare are a Junior (amateur) club from Leigh (formed by merger of Astley & Tyldesley and Hope Rangers - and now Leigh Miners Rangers)^[14]
11 * Hemel Stags are a semi professional club based in Hemel Hempstead and playing at the Pennine Way stadium (capacity 2000)^[15]
12 * Woolston Rovers are a Junior (amateur) club from Warrington, becoming Warrington Woolston Rovers in 2003 and Warrington Wizards in 2002. the ground is the old Warrington Home Ground of Wilderspool ^[16][17]
13 * West Hull are a Junior (amateur) club from Hull
14 * Saddleworth Rangers are a Junior (amateur) club from Oldham
15 * Thatto Heath are a Junior (amateur) club from St Helens^[18]
16 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject^[1] gives the attendance as 4,807 but Widnes official archives^[4] gives it as 4,831
17 * The McAlpine Stadium is the home ground of Huddersfield Town and Super League side, Huddersfield Giants. The stadium is 40% owned by Kirklees Metropolitan Council and 60% by the two clubs, hosted its first match in August 1994 and seats 24,499 people along with hospitality boxes and conference rooms. Since opening the stadium has been sponsored as The John Smith's Stadium, originally the Alfred McAlpine Stadium and more lately the Galpharm Stadium, is a multi-use sports stadium in Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England

General information

The council of the Rugby Football League voted to introduce a new competition, to be similar to The Football Association and Scottish Football Association's "League Cup". It was to be a similar knock-out structure to, and to be secondary to, the Challenge Cup. As this was being formulated, sports sponsorship was becoming more prevalent and as a result John Player and Sons, a division of Imperial Tobacco Company, became sponsors, and the competition never became widely known as the "League Cup". The competition ran from 1971–72 until 1995–96 and was initially intended for the professional clubs plus the two amateur BARLA National Cup finalists. In later seasons the entries were expanded to take in other amateur and French teams. The competition was dropped due to "fixture congestion" when Rugby League became a summer sport. The Rugby League season always (until the onset of "Summer Rugby" in 1996) ran from around August-time through to around May-time and this competition always took place early in the season, in the autumn, with the final usually taking place in late January. The competition was variably known, by its sponsorship name, as the Player's No.6 Trophy (1971–1977), the John Player Trophy (1977–1983), the John Player Special Trophy (1983–1989), and the Regal Trophy in 1989.

See also

• 1994-95 Rugby Football League season
• Regal Trophy
• Rugby league county cups

References

External links

• Saints Heritage Society
• 1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season at wigan.rlfans.com
• Hull&Proud Fixtures & Results 1896/1897
• Widnes Vikings - One team, one passion Season In Review - 1896-97
• The Northern Union at warringtonwolves.org
• Huddersfield R L Heritage
• Wakefield until I die