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

1Sat 19 Nov 1994Hunslet14-18AS Saint EstèveElland Road5211
2Sun 20 Nov 1994Dewsbury22-4XIII CatalanCrown Flatt11962
3Thu 24 Nov 1994Barrow138-0Nottingham CityCraven Park5003
4Sat 26 Nov 1994Huddersfield142-4Blackpool GladiatorsAlfred McAlpine Stadium11114
5Sun 27 Nov 1994Batley38-8QueensMount Pleasant6075
6Sun 27 Nov 1994Bramley40-14Myson (Hull)McLaren Field3026
7Sun 27 Nov 1994Carlisle25-12Bradford Dudley HillGifford Park2067
8Sun 27 Nov 1994Highfield12-6Ovenden (Halifax)Hoghton Road Stadium2858
9Sun 27 Nov 1994Hull KR48-8HensinghamCraven Park (2)11589
10Sun 27 Nov 1994Keighley Cougars56-0Chorley Borough (2)Cougar Park2370
11Sun 27 Nov 1994Leigh18-12Leigh Miners' WelfareHilton Park256110
12Sun 27 Nov 1994London Crusaders34-16Hemel StagsBarnet Copthall66811
13Sun 27 Nov 1994Rochdale Hornets34-10Woolston RoversSpotland57612
14Sun 27 Nov 1994Ryedale-York26-9West HullRyedale Stadium66813
15Sun 27 Nov 1994Swinton32-26Saddleworth (Oldham)Gigg Lane38014
16Sun 27 Nov 1994Whitehaven66-0Thatto HeathRecreation Ground68615
1Bradford Northernbye
2Castlefordbye
3Doncasterbye
4Featherstone Roversbye
5Halifaxbye
6Hull F.C.bye
7Leedsbye
8Oldhambye
9St Helensbye
10Salfordbye
11Sheffield Eaglesbye
12Wakefield Trinitybye
13Warringtonbye
14Widnesbye
15Wiganbye
16Workington Townbye

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

1Sat 3 Dec 1994Carlisle16-30DewsburyGifford Park287
2Sat 3 Dec 1994Castleford32-26HalifaxThe Jungle 4740
3Sun 4 Dec 1994Highfield2-50WidnesHoghton Road Stadium1199[4]
4Sun 4 Dec 1994Huddersfield11-52St HelensAlfred McAlpine Stadium5534[5]
5Sun 4 Dec 1994Hull F.C.26-16BarrowBoulevard2325[6]
6Sun 4 Dec 1994Keighley Cougars28-4BramleyCougar Park2515
7Sun 4 Dec 1994Leeds54-24SwintonHeadingley4867
8Sun 4 Dec 1994Oldham28-0Hull KRWatersheddings2277
9Sun 4 Dec 1994Salford16-14London CrusadersThe Willows2088
10Sun 4 Dec 1994Sheffield Eagles46-10LeighDon Valley Stadium870
11Sun 4 Dec 1994Warrington44-14DoncasterWilderspool3581[7]
12Sun 4 Dec 1994Whitehaven18-12Featherstone RoversRecreation Ground1248
13Sun 4 Dec 1994Wigan34-12Rochdale HornetsCentral Park7493[2]
14Sun 4 Dec 1994Workington Town24-8Wakefield TrinityDerwent Park2349[8]
15Wed 7 Dec 1994Batley36-8Ryedale-YorkMount Pleasant719
16Wed 7 Dec 1994Bradford Northern32-6Saint EstèveOdsal2250

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

1Sat 17 Dec 1994Salford24-31WarringtonThe Willows2189[7]
2Sun 18 Dec 1994Batley22-22St HelensMount Pleasant3017[5]
3Sun 18 Dec 1994Hull F.C.14-38WiganBoulevard6203[2][6]
4Sun 18 Dec 1994Keighley Cougars26-10Sheffield EaglesCougar Park3914
5Sun 18 Dec 1994Whitehaven14-34Bradford NorthernRecreation Ground1962
6Sun 18 Dec 1994Widnes20-6OldhamNaughton Park3517[4]
7Sun 18 Dec 1994Workington Town14-18LeedsDerwent Park3648
8Tue 20 Dec 1994Dewsbury2-30CastlefordCrown Flatt3325

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

1Tue 20 Dec 1994St Helens50-22BatleyKnowsley Road4940[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

1Sat 7 Jan 1995Leeds14-34CastlefordHeadingley10650
2Sun 8 Jan 1995Keighley Cougars18-20WarringtonCougar Park5685[7]
3Sun 8 Jan 1995Widnes23-10Bradford NorthernNaughton Park480716[4]
4Sun 8 Jan 1995Wigan24-22St HelensCentral Park23278[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

1Sat 14 Jan 1995Widnes4-30WarringtonNaughton Park6181[4][7]
2Sun 15 Jan 1995Wigan34-6CastlefordCentral Park13006[2]

Final

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref

Sat 28 Jan 1995Wigan40-10WarringtonAlfred McAlpine Stadium1963617[7][12]

Teams and Scorers[12]

Wigan No Warrington
teams
Henry Paul1Jonathan Davies
Jason Robinson2Mark Forster
Va'aiga Tuigamala3Allan Bateman
Gary Connolly4Iestyn Harris
Martin Offiah5Rob Myler
Frano Botica6Francis Maloney
Shaun Edwards7Greg Mackey
Kelvin Skerrett8Gary Tees
Martin Hall9Tukere Barlow
Neil Cowie10Bruce McGuire
Denis Betts11Paul Cullen
Mick Cassidy12Paul Darbyshire
Phil Clarke13Kelly Shelford
Paul Atcheson (for Va'aiga Tuigamala 56 min)14Andrew Bennett (for Tukere Barlow 66 min)
Barrie McDermott (for Neil Cowie Half Time)15Gary Sanderson (for Paul Darbyshire 18 min)
Graeme WestCoachReg Bowden
40score10
28HT4
Scorers
Tries
Va'aiga Tuigamala (2)TMark Forster (2)
Frano Botica (1)T
Gary Connolly (1)T
Barrie McDermott (1)T
Martin Offiah (1)T
Goals
Frano Botica (8)GJonathan Davies (1)
RefereeStuart Cummings (Widnes)
Man of the matchPhil Clarke - Wigan - loose forward
Competition Sponsorregal 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

References

External links