Friday 30 June 2017

UK Top Teams : 1981-1990

This is part of a series where top results are scored and tallied up. The Championship is the top 4 teams, scored 6-3-2-1. Then the Premiership again top 4 sides, 6-4-2-2. Challenge Cup finalists, 4-2. League Cup 4-2, Lancashire & Yorkshire Cups 3-1.

A break down of competitions shows who were the big hitters in this decade.

The League: Wigan 24 points, Hull KR 18, Widnes 16.
Finals: Widnes 30, Hull KR 20, St Helens and Hull FC 18 each.
Challenge Cup: Wigan 27 points, Widnes 15 and Hull FC 12.
Lancashire/Yorkshire Cups: Wigan 14 / Castleford/Hull FC 10 each.
League Cup: Wigan 20 points and daylight second.

In the previous decade, St Helens Leeds and Widnes were best. For the 1980's after a slow start it was all Wigan. Widnes was well behind, while the two Hull sides were 3rd and 4th most successful. Saints and Warrington made up the top six.

In the World Club Challenge with Australia, Wigan won the first to be held this decade. In 1987, they defeated Manly 8-2 in a tryless encounter at Central Park, Wigan. In the other match in this period, Widnes overcame Canberra 30-18 after trailing 0-12 early on. The Match was played at Old Trafford, Manchester. These results are not incorporated in the points chart below.

The Hull sides were strong early on but faded as the decade progressed. Widnes started and finished well but stalled in the middle. From 1985 to 1990, the Wigan team was almost unstoppable, winning two league titles, two grand finals, four Challenge Cups, four Lancashire Cups and four League Cups. They were the cup specialists. Could they maintain that through the next decade. We shall see.

For the first in the series, simply click here.
For the next in the series, just click here.

Rk Club / Year Tot 90 89 88 87 86 85 84 83 82 81
1 Wigan Warriors 97 18 16 11 19 12 11 3 6
1
2 Widnes Vikings 67 8 14 12


9 6 12 6
3 Hull FC 59
5
1
8 8 16 17 4
4 Hull KR 57



8 15 12 5 5 12
5 St Helens RFC 44
5 11 8 2 12 2 2
2
6 Warrington Wolves 42 6
3 8 8
2 3 2 10
7 Leeds Rhinos 28 5 5 2
2 3 4 4
3
8 Castleford Tigers 24
1 1 4 7
6
3 2
9 Halifax RLFC 23 2
3 8 10




10 Bradford Bulls 22 8
6



1 1 6
11 Leigh Centurions 9







9
12 Featherstone Rov 9 1 2




6

13 Barrow Raiders 5





3

2
14 Oldham Roughyeds 2 1

1





15 Wakefield Trinity 1








1
16 Salford Red Devils 1
1









490 49 49 49 49 49 49 49 49 49 49

Tuesday 27 June 2017

Nordic/ Lowlands Cups : 2011-2016

The Nordic Cup is between Denmark, Norway and Sweden. It has been held each year from 2011 to 2016. Each nation has won it at least once, with Denmark doing best overall. Unfortunately, Denmark had a temporary halt to the game there and the 2017 series will not go ahead.

There was a game between Norway and Denmark in 2017, played in Norway. They came away triumphant 38-18. I guess that could count as the Nordic winners for 2017 but I'm not sure that even the participants viewed it that way or not. Denmark is getting back again to playing RL so hopefully a 2018 three team version will take place.


NORDIC CUP

YEAR 1st 2nd 3rd

2011 Denmark Norway Sweden

2012 Norway Denmark Sweden

2013 Sweden Denmark Norway

2014 Denmark Sweden Norway

2015 Denmark Norway Sweden

2016 Norway Denmark Sweden

In another tournament, the lowland countries of Belgium and the Netherlands were joined by Germany for a triangular series. It was won by Belgium, with the Dutch in third. I'm not sure this will be held again but I would have thought the relative closeness in distance of the three participants would have made it viable. Hopefully it's not the last.


LOW LANDS TRI-SERIES

YEAR 1st 2nd 3rd

2016 Belgium Germany Nederland

Tuesday 20 June 2017

UK Top Teams : 1971-1980

This is part of a series where top results are scored and tallied up. The Championship is the top 4 teams, scored 6-3-2-1. Then the Premiership again top 4 sides, 6-4-2-2. Challenge Cup finalists, 4-2. League Cup 4-2 (from 1972) Lancashire & Yorkshire Cups, BBC Floodlit Trophy finalists, 3-1.

A break down of competitions shows where the performances shined through.

The League: St Helens got 21 points and Leeds 17.
Finals: St Helens 34 and Leeds 30.
Challenge Cup: Leeds and Widnes with 18 points each.
Lancashire/Yorkshire Cups: Widnes 16 and Leeds 18 respectively.
League Cup: Widnes 14 points and Warrington 10.
BBC Trophy: St Helens 9 points.

In the previous decade, St Helens romped away with the best team award, with Wakefield 2nd. Leeds, Wigan and Castleford came in next as the top five sides. However, things were quite different this time. Saints again were the best side initially but were hunted down by Leeds and had to settle for second best. Widnes, Warrington and Bradford made up the remaining top five places.

For the first in the series, simply click here.
For the next in the series, just click here.

Rk Team / Year Tot 80 79 78 77 76 75 74 73 72 71
1 Leeds Rhinos 90 5 7 6 9 7 8 7 13 15 13
2 St Helens RFC 80
1 8 9 16 10 7 3 15 11
3 Widnes Vikings 75 14 18 12 6 10 11 2 1 1
4 Warrington Wolves 43
7 4 4
4 16 8
5 Bradford Bulls 42 14 7 9

4
3 5
6 Salford Red Devils 30 1


11 4 7 5 2
7 Featherstone Rovers 27

1 9 3 1 3 9
1
8 Hull KR 26 7 6 3 1 1 5

3
9 Wigan Warriors 25
2 1

5 3
4 10
10 Leigh Centurions 16 2

1


3
10
11 Castleford Tigers 15

3 11



1
12 Wakefield Trinity 13
3

2 1 3
2 2
13 Dewsbury Rams 11

3
1

7

14 Hull FC 10 8


2




15 Workington Town 6 1 1 3 1





16 Halifax RLFC 5 1






4
17 Rochdale Hornets 3





2
1
18 Bramley Buffaloes 3





3


19 Blackpool Borough 2


2





20 Swinton Lions 1






1

21 York City Knights 1
1








Total 524 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 47