The 2012 Super League Grand Final was the 15th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding match of the

Super League XVII The 2012 Super League season (known as the ''Stobart Super League XVII'') was the 17th season of rugby league football since the Super League format was introduced in 1996. Fourteen teams competed for the League Leaders' Shield over 27 rounds (in ...

season. The match was held on Saturday 6 October 2012, 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 Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, and was contested by English clubs

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

Warrington Wolves The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England, that competes in the Super League. They play rugby at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004. Founded as Warrington Z ...

. The 2012 Grand Final was a repeat of the 2012 Challenge Cup Final, in which Warrington beat Leeds 35-18 at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

, although it was Leeds who would win the Super League Grand Final, winning 26-18. The progress of the two teams competing in the match were decided by results in the Super League XVII play-offs.

Background

Route to the Final

Leeds Rhinos

As in 2011, Leeds Rhinos finished the regular season in 5th place, meaning the team started their play-off campaign in the elimination play-off, where they met

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

rivals

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, betw ...

, playing in their first play-off campaign at

Headingley Carnegie Stadium Headingley Stadium is a stadium complex in Headingley, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, comprising two separate grounds; Headingley Cricket Ground and Headingley Rugby Stadium, linked by a two-sided stand housing common facilities. The grounds a ...

. Leeds won the game 42-20 with

Ben Jones-Bishop Ben Jones-Bishop (born 24 August 1988) is a Jamaica international rugby league footballer who plays as a er or for the Sheffield Eagles in the RFL Championship. He played for the Leeds Rhinos in the Super League, and on loan from Leeds at ...

scoring a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

and

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 ...

becoming the all-time leading

try Try or TRY may refer to: Music Albums * ''Try!'', an album by the John Mayer Trio * ''Try'' (Bebo Norman album) (2014) Songs * "Try" (Blue Rodeo song) (1987) * "Try" (Colbie Caillat song) (2014) * "Try" (Nelly Furtado song) (2004) * " Try (Ju ...

-scorer in the

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 ...

history. In the Preliminary Semi Final, Leeds would meet the lowest-placed loser from the Qualification play-off games,

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons (French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. The team competes in the Super League and are the only team from outs ...

in the south of France, who they would beat 27-20, thanks to five goals from

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 ...

and a

drop goal A drop goal, field goal, or dropped goal is a method of scoring points in rugby union and rugby league and also, rarely, in American football and Canadian football. A drop goal is scored by drop kicking the ball (dropping the ball and then kicki ...

from McGuire. That result booked Leeds' place in the Qualifying Semi-Final and the club call.

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

were the team that were given the decision and chose Leeds. The match at the

DW Stadium The DW Stadium is a stadium in Robin Park, in Wigan, within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The ground is owned and managed by Wigan Football Company Limited, which is 85% owned by Wigan Athletic and 15% owned ...

was won 13-12 by Leeds, despite Wigan scoring more tries (two to Leeds' one). Leeds reached the Grand Final, thanks to the boot of Kevin Sinfield, who kicked four goals, including the

conversion Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series * "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 Le ...

' try, and a first-half drop goal.

Warrington Wolves

Warrington's 2012 play-off campaign did not get off to a good start, as they lost 28-6 to St. Helens, despite having home advantage in the Qualifying play-off game following their 2nd place league finish.

Tommy Makinson Tommy Makinson (born 10 October 1991) is an English professional rugby league footballer who plays as a er for St Helens in the Betfred Super League and England at international level. He spent time on loan from St Helens at the Rochdale Horn ...

was Saints's most influential player in the game, scoring 16 points from two tries and kicking four goals. The defeat meant Warrington would have to compete in the Preliminary Semi-Final round but would once again play at home at the

Halliwell Jones Stadium The Halliwell Jones Stadium is a rugby league stadium in Warrington, England, which is the home ground of the Warrington Wolves. It has also staged Challenge Cup semi-finals, the European Nations Final, the National League Grand Finals' Day, ...

, this time against

Hull FC Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and were ...

. Warrington would race into a 24-point lead before winning the 24-12 to reach the Preliminary Semi Final. Following Wigan's club call decision, Warrington were re-united against St Helens, this time at

Langtree Park Totally Wicked Stadium is a rugby league stadium in the Peasley Cross area of St. Helens. Known as Langtree Park until 2017, it has a capacity of over 18,000 and is the home ground of St Helens R.F.C. The stadium was granted full planning perm ...

. The reverse of the fixture also meant a reverse of luck for Warrington, who would gain revenge for the defeat earlier in the play-offs by winning 36-18 to reach their ever

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 ...

. It also sees coach Tony Smith become the first coach to reach the Super Grand Final with two different clubs, the other club being Warrington's opponent, Leeds Rhinos.

Match details

References

External links

Super League Play-offs website
{{2012 in Rugby League Super League Grand Finals Warrington Wolves matches Leeds Rhinos matches

Super League Grand Final The Super League Grand Final is the championship-deciding game of rugby league's Super League competition. It is played between two teams who have qualified via the Super League Play-Off series. The winning team receives the Super League Trop ...