The game was faster than I remember it. Eccles was a grafter who played above his size. Fantastic match.
It was great to see a proper stand off weaving his magic. The delayed passes etc. Thats what I miss in todays game.

At its worse some SL matches today can look like a load of bulked up blokes running into one another. The space and steeper lines of attack in this game made it great to watch.

I watched the first few minutes until Oulton and Atkinson spilled the bomb....couldn't bear watching any more.

(To be honest savoring the rest for later....it was a very different game then....and who knows if we had been allowed to continue in isolation it might still be played the same way today. Bluddy Aussies, 1980's and all that. )

A lot more variation than now. Once Leeds started to dominate, virtually every play involved different pace, angle, length of pass etc.

Great game, great rugby two teams going toe to toe with the added extra of some wonderful hair doo's.

Me and my son's have loved every minute of it

I was there but great to relive it again. Graham Eccles,what a workhorse !
for Saints, George Nicholls a great second-rower.

with the amount of channels the bbc now have they could easily show as many finals as they have on a weekly basis
my son watched it with me last night and that was his first viewing of the old type rugby and he loved it,

A few things occurred to me during the game.

i) The refs today are fantastic & under appreciated.

ii) Ball control today is a lot better.

iii) We should go back to the 5m distance at the ptb. I think it would speed the game up as defending teams won't have to slow the tackle down as much before their team mates are back on side and it would restrict the effectiveness of the dull scoot from the acting half back.

iv) Even forgetting about the improved fitness, I think every current team in the Super League would easily defeat both of those teams.

Watching that game back for probably the first time since I watched it live as a kid, I'm struck by the similarities in terms of leadership between David Ward and Kevin Sinfield.

Very much leading from the front by example and showing good understanding of the game.

Oh, and a fine example of why asking the press to cast their Lance Todd votes 10 minutes before the hooter is a worthless exercise.

Meh. They'd lose every scrum and have the ball hooked away at every play-the-ball.

Although if you could somehow teleport that Leeds team of 78 to the current date and they somehow kept their youth during the process and you then gave them a very healthy salary and a year to condition themselves and do nothing else all day long but study nutrition, fitness and the tactical aspects of modern RL, then this time next year you'd see a game played on a more equal playing field.

Don't ever lose sight of the fact that none of those players in that 78 final earned a living wage from the sport, many had a trade and all of them had to juggle jobs and training constantly.

And people call the likes of Bailey and Ablett thugs!! Pretty much every tackle in that final was high or a grapple. Cheap shots galore, late shots. Todays game is played by choir boys in comparison.

Also the refereeing in general was shocking, the biggest prima donnas on the field were the refs in those days. The play the ball was also a total shambles.

However, it was far faster in those days than many would have you believe, and some of the rugby played by both teams was excellent, lots of set moves, variations in passing, and some quality running lines. Although the defensive line did seem alot less structured than it does nowadays.

Much as the technique at the play the ball was poor, how quickly did the tackle area clear with defenders knowing they only had to wait for their team mates to get back five yards rather than ten?

Very few examples of players being held down, or falling over trying to milk a penalty from the ref.

Competitive scrums meant both teams were prepared to push the pass and move the ball around, in the knowledge that if they did knock on they at least had a chance of getting the ball straight back at the scrum.

Really enjoyed it & the programmes b4
Started watching properly in 1980 , was 1978 when the team whose half you were in put the ball in & other team had 1st strike ?

Was there other changes b4 present head and ball to non offending team ?

looked faster than i remembered , few missed knocked ons at play the ball but better for less wrestling (although most included a facial)

re other thread on size of harrison , was a mountain wasn't he. Thought sammy sanderson had more of a perm , why wasn't alan smith playing and poor kicking from willie oulton. Kick offs from leeds were same standard as today.

Shame bout Eddie waring's illness shown in the previous programme

Excellent observation.

Typified earlyish in the game when Les Jones ran the ball out of his in goal area returned it 20 or 30 yards downfield before Graham Eccles forced him into touch (and the verbal afters were classic Eccles) and no-one batted an eyelid.

The scrummaging wasn't quite as bad as I remembered it, probably in part due to the conditions.

And a final thought how camp were Billy Thompson's signals?

Eddie Cunningham is Keiron's brother, thats some age gap. This is on Wikipedia so could be inaccurate.