My dad sat next to Neil Hagues mum in the North Stand at the time that he made his debut season at Leeds. To say that she was vocal about his game would be rather an understatement and every time he was tackled the tackle-ee would be roundly lambasted and left in no doubt that that was her child he was roughing up, I'm sure it was sitting there for a season that made him deaf in his right ear.

Well she certainly would not be shouting when tackled anyone - it never happened

You can't be comepetitive while never looking like winning. We kept the score down a bit on '82- which frankly you would expect from a touring side. If we had consistant selection back in '82 then we might have done the same. 3 different sets of half backs in 3 tests? 3 different hookers? 3 different 13's? Queensland dominating Origin meant that Kenny didn't even get a look in - and while it wasn't a "bad" Australian side, it wasn't their best - no Peter Sterling? Astonishing.

It would be interesting to see stats for that game.

Things that stood out for me,
Speed of the game - I know it was an exceptional game for the era, but boy was it fast.
Fitness of the forwards - especially the big front rowers, who always ran hard.
Pace. Where has it gone in our game? Why don't we have guys pace anymore? There were four wingers out there who could all really shift, and as for Dyl, fast, strong, hard.
Wardy, took the ball a lot at first receiver and hit it up like a prop.
Holmes and his defensive covering. Always moving looking for gaps in the line to plug (like halves used to). Then there was the move that led to his drop goal. He saw the pass go behind Hague and ran backwards to get himslef behind Hague ( a huge effort at that time in the match) and read the run and pass perfectly.
Eddie Waring: if you listen to what he's saying then he clearly knows his stuff, and does a good commentary, but the accent makes it really difficult - even for a Northerner.

Above all, it was just fantastically entertaining.

How much did Syd Hynes look like Tosh from The Bill?

i might be wrong here..but wasnt it sanderson who died during a game by getting a bad injury..(i seem to remember this from years ago)..remember the game being abandoned..wasn't it against salford?

That was Chris Sanderson, not Sammy. You're right about it being at Salford though.

Amazing that it didn't receive a mention in the commentary, given it had happened only a few weeks previously.

i thought that meself..thanks

A few weeks and 12 months previously, Chris's death was towards the end of the 1976-77 season which culminated in Leeds winning the Cup against Widnes.

I planned to watch 10 minutes or so before bedtime, ended up watching all the game. Hugely entertaining, and seemed much faster than games of the 80's I have on tape.

Some thoughts :

The number of tackles looked much less than a Super League game, as the ball was moved around plenty. Not much scooting from acting half either, which was good to see.

John Holmes looked a bit useful with ball in hand, although I thought he overplayed the pass to inside runner. I'd think a coach nowadays would pick up on that.

Didn't see much variation in the kicking game from either team, up and under was about it.

Scrums, play the balls, and facials in the tackle were an eye opener

How good would small, fast players from today look in that game, with the defensive line being all over the place ?

What an effort from Steve Pitchford - Eddie and Stevo used to wet themselves over Fielden occasionally playing the full 80 minutes. Who was the Saints number 8 that put a high shot on Pitchford early in the game? Didn't put him off !

And now I know where Scott Donald learnt the 'in and out' to skin the full back - by watching John Atkinson ....

Correct, Chris Sanderson died in Hope hospital after in inocuous looking tackle he attempted/made on Salford's Ken Gill at the Willows 24th April 1977. It was during the 30th and final league game of the season with Leeds needing a win to qualify for the Premiership top 8 play-off. The game was abandoned at half-time when news reached the ground of Chris' fate (with Leeds leading 5-2) and the game was declared void by the RFL who decided the match would not be re-arranged.

Bradford took the 8th spot.

Two weeks later Leeds defeated Widnes at Wembley (16-7) and Chris' widow Sally was the first person taken in to the Leeds changing rooms after the match.

Peter Banner was Leeds' primary scrum-half that season and had played in all the earlier rounds of the cup but left for a new life down under immediately after the semi-final triumph over St Helens at Central Park (7-2)

He had offered to come back for the final if Leeds required him but instead the club decided to go with the players still here and committed to the club to fight it out for Wembley places. That battle at scrum-half was between Chris Sanderson and the emerging Kevin Dick. The rest as they say is history.

(As a post-script, Leeds were given special dispensation by the RFL to 'purchase' an additional winners medal for Peter Banner.)

Ah - that would explain it. Memory's playing tricks again I'm afraid.

I still have a copy somewhere of the 1976-77 season review brochure the club produced, might have to look it out over the weekend.

Another belting game. 2nd half long range effort by Atkinson to settle it from an offload by Phil Cookson out of a 3 man tackle?

Oulton had arrived during the 1976/77 season. Murrell had lost his place at full-back early in the 1977/78 seaon but it was John Holmes who took on the role for four games when it was reported that Murrell had missed a couple of training sessions and Syd Hynes was hoping he would return to the next one and have a chat. (Not an invitation I'd be looking forward to accepting.) That said he did return but Oulton was now getting the full-back gig more often than not (including the 2nd round, Quarter-Final and Semi Final of the cup) and had taken on the kicking duties with some success although obviously not many would believe that on his Wembley showing but it was the case nontheless.

Murrell would make the 22 man travelling Wembley squad but was one of the 7 to miss out on playing in the final.



Fantastic game played in proper rugby conditions and a remarkable deciding score from Atkinson but not IIRC from a Cookson offload.

I see the ball coming out of the Leeds twenty from the dressing room end of Central Park in Steve Pitchford's hands, I then see Neil Hague on to Les Dyl with John Atkinson running it in from around half way.

Either way I'd love to see it again .... and again .... and again.

I didn't get my first video recorder until late the following year (1st game recorded - Leeds V Hunslet - Boxing Day - Grandstand - 2nd half coverage only - they even missed the kick-off and when Frank Bough handed over to Eddie he was describing a similar try to the one scored above only this time it was finished off by John Holmes)

I rarely watch any game a second time these days - if ever - I've already watched that '78 final twice this week and likely as not will watch it again sometime before Sunday. I think my record for re-watching a game has to be the JP semi-final V Wigan at Bolton's Burnden Park in '87. I must have watched that thing twice a day for a fortnight until the next game which was Halifax at Headingley on Boxing day.

Pity about the final mind.