The 2003

World Club Challenge The World Club Challenge is an annual rugby league competition between the winners of the Australasian National Rugby League (NRL) and the European Super League, for the de facto club world championship of the sport. The first such match was pl ...

match was contested on Sunday, 16 February by

National Rugby League season 2002 The 2002 NRL season was the 95th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fifth to be run by the National Rugby League. The season was affected by the competition-leading Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs' salary cap breach fi ...

premiers, the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...

and Super League VII premiers, St. Helens. 19,807 spectators turned out at

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

Reebok Stadium The University of Bolton Stadium is the home ground of Bolton Wanderers F.C. in Horwich, Greater Manchester, England. Opening in 1997, it was named the Reebok Stadium, after club sponsors Reebok. In 2014, Bolton Wanderers signed a naming righ ...

for the match, which was refereed by Russell Smith. This was the first time the two clubs had played each other since the inaugural World Club Challenge game at the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australian rules football and occasionally for rugby league, rugby union and as ...

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

. On that occasion the Roosters, then known as Eastern Suburbs (as it was a Sydney only competition at the time), defeated St Helens 25-2. The attendance on that occasion was 26,856.

Background

St Helens

Sydney Roosters

Match summary

Teams

The

Roosters The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

went into the Challenge making only one change in their starting lineup (

Todd Byrne Todd Byrne (born ), also known by the nicknames of "Bones", "The Big Pretzel", and "Skinny", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s. He played at club level in the National Rugby League for the Sydn ...

went on to the wing for the retired

Brett Mullins Brett Mullins (born 21 January 1972) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s, and early 2000s. A New South Wales State of Origin and Australian international representative back, he played his club ...

). In the end, though, it made no difference as the

ran out comprehensive 0-38 champions over the

Saints In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual res ...

outfit. Tries to

Craig Fitzgibbon Craig Fitzgibbon (born 16 June 1977) is an Australian professional rugby league coach and a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s and is the current head coach of Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. A N ...

Adrian Morley Adrian Paul Morley is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played as a and forward from the 1990s through the 2010s. A Great Britain and England international, he played for the Leeds Rhinos (with whom he won the 1999 C ...

, new input Todd Byrne, captain Brad Fittler and

Todd Payten Todd Payten (born 18 January 1979) is an Australian professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the North Queensland Cowboys in the NRL and former professional rugby league footballer. As a player he played as a and forward for ...

plus the 9 goals from Fitzgibbon completed a wonderful season for the

External links