The 2010

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 ...

(known as the

Gillette Gillette is an American brand of safety razors and other personal care products including shaving supplies, owned by the multi-national corporation Procter & Gamble (P&G). Based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, it was owned by The Gil ...

World Club Challenge due to sponsorship by Gillette Fusion) was a

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

tournament contested by

Super League XIV The 2009 Super League season (known as the Engage Super League XIV for sponsorship reasons) is the 14th season of rugby league since the Super League format was introduced in 1996. Fourteen teams competed for the Minor Premiership over 27 rounds ...

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 2009 NRL Premiers the

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia that participates in the National Rugby League. The first fully professional rugby league team based in the state, the Storm entered the competition in 1998. ...

. This was Leeds' third consecutive appearance in the World Club Challenge, and the second appearance in three years for Melbourne. Melbourne and Leeds previously played each other in the

2008 World Club Challenge The 2008 Carnegie World Club Challenge was contested between Super League XII champions, the Leeds Rhinos and National Rugby League season 2007 premiers, the Melbourne Storm. For the fifth consecutive year the English home team defeated their Aust ...

with Leeds winning that match 11 - 4. Melbourne Storm won the game 18-10; however later in the year were stripped of the title (as well as its 2009 NRL premiership and other titles) after the club was found guilty of salary cap breaches. The prize money was redistributed to Leeds, but the title of World Club Champion was not.

Background

Leeds Rhinos

Leeds Rhinos qualified through being the 2009 Super League champions, defeating

St Helens R.F.C. St Helens R.F.C. is a professional rugby league club in St Helens, Merseyside who compete in the Super League, the top tier for rugby league in Great Britain. They are the current Champions, having won the last 4 consecutive titles, and becom ...

18–10 in the Grand Final.

Melbourne Storm

Melbourne Storm qualified by being crowned the 2009 National Rugby League premiers with a 23–16 defeat of the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and their ...

, in the NRL Grand Final. This premiership was later stripped from the Storm due to salary cap breaches. The Storm, despite being stripped of their two premierships, were initially allowed to keep the World Club Challenge title, including the trophy and prize money they won; however, on 11 May 2011, a final report released further detailing the

Melbourne Storm salary cap scandal The Melbourne Storm salary cap breach was a major breach of the National Rugby League's strictly enforced salary cap by the Melbourne Storm club over a period of five years. The discovery of these breaches in 2010 by the NRL resulted in it strippi ...

recommended the Storm be stripped of the 2010 World Club Challenge. In addition the prize money won was redistributed to Leeds.

Warm-up match

Melbourne played a warm-up game against the

Harlequins RL The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...

Super League team at the

Twickenham Stoop Twickenham Stoop Stadium (informally referred to as The Stoop) is a sports stadium located in south-west London, England. The stadium is home to Harlequins rugby union team, who play in the Gallagher Premiership. The stadium has a capacity ...

. The match took place on Sunday 21 February - a week before the Storm played for the world title. The event was dubbed the ''World City Challenge – London Series''. Melbourne were without

Cooper Cronk Cooper Patrick Cronk (born 5 December 1983) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. An n international and Queensland State of Origin representative , he played most of his club career fo ...

Brett White Brett White (born 8 April 1982) is a former professional rugby league footballer who played for the Canberra Raiders and the Melbourne Storm in the NRL. Both an Ireland and Australian international, and New South Wales State of Origin represent ...

and

Ryan Tandy Ryan Tandy (20 September 1981 – 28 April 2014) was international rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. He played as a in the National Rugby League for the St. George Illawarra Dragons, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Wests Tige ...

, with both sides giving a number of youngsters a taste of first-team action.

Teams

Match details

First half Leeds almost scored early in the first half when

Brent Webb Brent Douglas Webb (born 9 November 1979) is a former New Zealand national rugby league team, New Zealand international rugby league footballer who played as a . He previously played for the New Zealand Warriors in the National Rugby League, ...

ran over but he was held up by

Luke MacDougall Luke MacDougall (born 5 February 1982) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer in the National Rugby League competition, who last played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. He previously played for the Cronulla-Sutherlan ...

on the last tackle. Soon after they posted the first points with a penalty goal to captain

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 ...

. Soon after Melbourne drew level with a penalty goal of their own through captain

Cameron Smith Cameron Smith may refer to: * Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983), Australian rugby league footballer * Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1998), English rugby league footballer * Cameron Smith (golfer) (born 1993), Australian golfer * Cammy Smi ...

. After Sinfield left the field with an injury,

Rob Burrow Robert Geoffrey Burrow (born 26 September 1982) is an English former professional rugby league player. An England and Great Britain representative, he spent his entire 16-year professional career with Leeds Rhinos in the Super League, making o ...

kicked another penalty goal, leaving them two points in front. Smith then leveled the score again with the fourth consecutive penalty goal. The half ended with the scored tied 4-all. 2nd Half Later in the match, Smith attempted a grubber kick which landed in the path of

Danny McGuire Daniel Phillip McGuire (born 6 December 1982) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played as a or , and is currently the interim head-coach of Hull Kingston Rovers. He spent the majority of his professional career play ...

, who ran down the length of the field to score the first try. Burrow's conversion pushed the margin out to six. Melbourne responded with MacDougall who scored in the right corner. Despite the tough angle, Smith made the conversion.

Kallum Watkins Kallum Paul Watkins (born 12 March 1991) is an English professional rugby league footballer who plays as a or forward for the Salford Red Devils in the Betfred Super League and England at international level. He previously played for the Lee ...

nearly scored in the right corner, but dropped the ball.

Anthony Quinn Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (April 21, 1915 – June 3, 2001), known professionally as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican-American actor. He was known for his portrayal of earthy, passionate characters "marked by a brutal and elemental v ...

's try, put the sealing on the game with Storm winning 18-10.

Man of the Match

The Man of the Match was awarded to

from the

, but he was later stripped of the award because of the Storm's salary cap breach.

References

{{Melbourne Storm

Melbourne Storm matches Leeds Rhinos

World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

World Club Challenge Sports competitions in Leeds Rugby league in West Yorkshire