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.

It's entirely accurate.

That's it, just spoil a piece of happy speculation by bringing reality into it.

I thought it was very entertaining. There was more variation in skills than you see nowadays.

Did the heart good to see chubby props (Pitchford & Chisnall) battering each other for 80 minutes.
I agree with thos who said it seemed much quicker than current pundits would have us believe but I guess the time taken up with scrums instead of the handover after 6 tackles took time out of the game.
When did the handover replace the scrum after 6 tackles?
It was noticable how little airborne tactical kicking there was, particularly after the hash Leeds made of the 1st one.
Saints only stayed in the game in the second half due to Oulton's poor kicking on the day.
Watching Hynes puffing away on the bench reminded me of Laughton, how some things have changed for the better?
Interestingly I don't think Saints used either of their subs.
Let's hope the BBC show more repeats of these earlier cup finals.
Finally, how stilted were David Watkins comments?