Wigan Man of the Match, Ellery Hanley, supported by Shaun Edwards
The costly exercise of bringing Australian internationals, Paul Vautin and Michael O’Connor back to the UK for the Challenge Cup final, proved an expensive flop as St Helens crashed 26-0 to Wigan at London’s Wembley Stadium, in front of a crowd of 78,000.
Vautin captained St Helens from lock, while his Manly-Warringah teammate, O’Connor played on the wing, rather than his preferred centre position, with coach, Alex Murphy sticking with Paul Loughlin and Phil Veivers.
Neither Vautin or O’Connor made any impact on the game with hooker, Paul Groves and halfback, Neil Holding two of a small band of Saints’ players who could hold their heads high after the 27-0 thrashing. Saint Helens became the first side to fail to score a point at Wembley since 1951, when Wigan beat Barrow 10-0.
Wigan Skipper, Ellery Hanley won the Lance Todd Trophy as Player of the Match, although he was pushed for the award by New Zealander, Kevin Iro, who scored two tries. But a 45 metre effort by Hanley was the try of the match, with the Great Britain star leaving four defenders stranded in his wake with a mixture of elusiveness, skill and power.
Wigan’s inter-change forward, Dennis Betts was making his second Wembley appearance – he had been there eight years earlier playing a schoolboys’ curtain raiser for Salford.
The win was a triumph for Wigan’s Kiiwi coach, Graham Lowe, who was subject to widespread speculation he would take on a coaching job in Sydney. Wigan players, Joe Lydon and Andy Gregory had already agreed to terms for off-season stints with Easts Roosters and Balmain respectively.
The match was a baptism of fire for St Helens’ 17-year-old fullback, Gary Connolly, who was shown up on several occasions, but didn’t throw the towel in. Saints had beaten Swinton, Barrow, Featherstone and Widnes on the way to the final, while Wigan had accounted for Doncaster, Bradford Northern, Oldham and Warrington.
Vautin and O’Connor had played 21 and 18 games respectively for St Helens earlier in the season, before returning to Australia for the early part of the NSWRL Winfield Cup competition. Manly allowed them to return to the UK for the Wembley final, after a request from St Helens.
While Wigan were Challenge Cup winners (it is a knockout competition), Widnes won the Championship, which is equivalent to our minor premiership. Widnes’ roster included the likes of Welshmen, Jonathan Davies, Paul Moriarty; Scotsman, Alan Tait; Australian, Phil McKenzie; Kiwi Kurt Sorensen; English internationals Tony Myler, Martin Offiah, Mike O’Neill, Darren Wright and brothers Paul and David Hulme. Offiah scored 58 tries in 41 games.
In other news from the UK, Salford hooker, Ian Gormley was banned for10 matches and fined 1,000 pounds for going into a grandstand during a match at Halifax, to get at a supporter who had heckled him.
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