The year 2005 Carnegie
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 ...
was contested by
Super League IX
Tetley's Super League IX was the name of the 2004 Super League championship season due to sponsorship by Tetley's Bitter. This was the 110th season of top-level professional rugby league held in Britain, and the ninth championship decided by Super ...
champions
Leeds Rhinos
The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headi ...
and
2004 NRL season
The 2004 NRL season (also known as the 2004 Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra) was the 97th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the seventh run by the National Rugby League. Fifteen clubs competed dur ...
premiers, the
Bulldogs
The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.[Elland Road
Elland Road is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the home of Premier League club Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the 14th largest football stadium in England.
The g ...]
, Leeds before 37,208 spectators. Australian Sean Hampstead was the referee. The home team came out winners in the end of what was, at the time, the highest-scoring WCC match ever, with a final scoreline of 39-32.
Qualification
Leeds Rhinos
The 2004
Super League
The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...
Grand Final was held on Saturday 16 October 2004, at
Old Trafford
Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...
, Manchester, UK. The game was played between
Leeds Rhinos
The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headi ...
, who finished top of the league after the 28 weekly rounds, and
Bradford Bulls
The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predom ...
, who finished second after the weekly rounds.
Bulldogs
The 2004
NRL
The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...
Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the
2004 NRL season
The 2004 NRL season (also known as the 2004 Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra) was the 97th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the seventh run by the National Rugby League. Fifteen clubs competed dur ...
. It was contested by the
Bulldogs
The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.[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 ...]
, who had finished the regular season in 1st place. After both sides eliminated the rest of 2004's top eight teams over the finals series, they faced each other in a
grand final
Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...
for the first time since the
1980 NSWRFL season's decider.
Match details
The Bulldogs had less than a week to adjust from Sydney summer to Yorkshire winter with four training sessions to prepare whereas the Rhinos had been playing friendlies since Boxing Day.
The Sydnesiders were also without six senior players who stayed at home after off-season surgeries.
Leeds opened the scoring with their left centre
Chev Walker
Chev Walker (born 9 October 1982) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who last played for the Bradford Bulls in the Championship. He played both rugby league and rugby union professionally. A Great Britain and England inte ...
crossing around the five-minute mark.
Kevin Sinfield
Kevin Sinfield (born 12 September 1980) is the defence coach for the England national rugby union team. He is a former professional rugby league footballer, captain and director of rugby for the Leeds Rhinos. Sinfield also represented England ...
's conversion was successful so the Rhinos were leading 6 - 0.
References
Sources
2005 World Club Challenge at superleague.co.uk''Rhinos power to world club crown'' - bbc.co.uk
{{2005 in rugby league
World Club Challenge
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs matches
Leeds Rhinos matches
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Sports competitions in Leeds
Rugby league in West Yorkshire