1995–96 Regal Trophy

The 1995–96 Regal Trophy was a British rugby league knockout tournament. It was the 25th and final season that the competition was held, and was the seventh staging of the competition since it was renamed the Regal Trophy.

1995–96 Regal Trophy
Structure	National knockout championship
Teams	42
Winners	Wigan
Runners-up	St. Helens
← 1994–95

The last final was won by Wigan, who beat local rivals St. Helens 25-16 at the McAlpine Stadium in Huddersfield. The attendance was 17,590.

Background

This season saw a reduction in the number of entrants, the number decreasing to forty-two.

The inclusion of two French clubs continued, but the number of invitations to the top junior clubs was reduced by six from eleven last season, to just five this season.

The ten first round winners added to the twenty-two clubs given byes, gave a total of entrants into the second round of thirty-two. There were no drawn matches during this season's competition

Competition and results

^[1][2]

Round 1

Involved 10 matches and 20 clubs with 22 byes

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 30 Sep 1995	Leigh	16-19	AS Saint Estève	Hilton Park	1543		1
2	Sat 30 Sep 1995	York	24-22	SM Pia XIII	Ryedale Stadium	531		2
3	Sun 1 Oct 1995	Barrow	29-11	Park Amateurs	Craven Park	520		3
4	Sun 1 Oct 1995	Bramley	20-17	Woolston Rovers	Clarence Field, Kirkstall	350		4, 5
5	Sun 1 Oct 1995	Carlisle	38-10	Doncaster Dragons	Gifford Park	435		6
6	Sun 1 Oct 1995	Chorley Chieftains	92-0	Nottingham City	Victory Park	425
7	Sun 1 Oct 1995	Highfield	48-18	Hemel Hempstead	Valerie Park, Prescott	220		7
8	Sun 1 Oct 1995	Hull Kingston Rovers	72-6	Blackpool Gladiators	Craven Park (2)	1087
9	Sun 1 Oct 1995	Hunslet Hawks	34-24	Ellenborough Rangers	Elland Road	247		8
10	Sun 1 Oct 1995	Swinton	44-20	West Hull	Gigg Lane	500		9

Round 2

Involved 16 matches and 32 clubs. The 10 winners of the first round were joined by the 11 Championship clubs and 11 First Division clubs in the second round.

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 11 Nov 1995	Keighley Cougars	14–42	St. Helens	Cougar Park	3,737			[3]
2	Sat 11 Nov 1995	Workington Town	30–14	AS Saint Estève	Derwent Park	1,376		1
3	Sun 12 Nov 1995	Batley	21–14	Wakefield Trinity	Mount Pleasant	1,522
4	Sun 12 Nov 1995	Bradford Bulls	22–0	Sheffield Eagles	Odsal	3,353
5	Sun 12 Nov 1995	Bramley	4–22	Hunslet Hawks	Clarence Field	650		5
6	Sun 12 Nov 1995	Carlisle	19–18	Castleford	Gifford Park	850
7	Sun 12 Nov 1995	Chorley Chieftains	10–68	Warrington	Victory Park	1,236			[4]
8	Sun 12 Nov 1995	Dewsbury	17–6	Barrow	Crown Flatt	662
9	Sun 12 Nov 1995	Halifax	20–18	Swinton	Thrum Hall	2,994
10	Sun 12 Nov 1995	Huddersfield	22–21	Featherstone Rovers	Alfred McAlpine Stadium	2,337
11	Sun 12 Nov 1995	Hull F.C.	56–18	York	Boulevard	2,411			[5]
12	Sun 12 Nov 1995	Hull Kingston Rovers	10–14	Rochdale Hornets	Craven Park	1,548
13	Sun 12 Nov 1995	Leeds	46–22	Salford	Headingley	7,589
14	Sun 12 Nov 1995	London Broncos	82–0	Highfield	Barnet Copthall	512
15	Sun 12 Nov 1995	Widnes	32–8	Oldham Bears	Naughton Park	3,472			[6]
16	Sun 12 Nov 1995	Wigan	68–26	Whitehaven	Central Park	6,133			[2]

Round 3

Involved 8 matches and 16 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 25 Nov 1995	London Broncos	18-22	Halifax	Barnet Copthall	800
2	Sun 26 Nov 1995	Batley	22-35	Warrington	Mount Pleasant	1,754			[4]
3	Sun 26 Nov 1995	Dewsbury	14-26	Rochdale Hornets	Crown Flatt	927
4	Sun 26 Nov 1995	Huddersfield	0-32	Wigan	Alfred McAlpine Stadium	6,026			[2]
5	Sun 26 Nov 1995	Hull F.C.	26-38	St. Helens	Boulevard	4,180		10	[3][5]
6	Sun 26 Nov 1995	Hunslet Hawks	17-22	Carlisle	South Leeds Stadium	1,355
7	Sun 26 Nov 1995	Leeds	42-28	Bradford Bulls	Headingley	10,093
8	Sun 26 Nov 1995	Workington Town	8-32	Widnes	Derwent Park	2,500			[6]

Quarter-finals

Wigan won their tie against Widnes after extra time.^[7]

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Att	Notes
1	Sat 9 Dec 1995	Widnes	23–28	Wigan	Naughton Park	3,771	[2][6]
2	Sun 10 Dec 1995	Leeds	44–22	Carlisle	Headingley	5,130
3	Sun 10 Dec 1995	St. Helens	46–18	Halifax	Knowsley Road	7,419	[3]
4	Sun 10 Dec 1995	Warrington	38–20	Rochdale Hornets	Wilderspool	2,731	[4]

Semi-finals

The semi-final between St Helens and Warrington was originally scheduled to take place on 30 December 1995, but was postponed due to a frozen pitch.^[8] The result in the rescheduled fixture was a record defeat for Warrington.^[9]

4 January 1996

St Helens	80 – 0	Warrington

Knowsley Road, St Helens Attendance: 10,647

6 January 1996

Wigan	38 – 18	Leeds

Central Park, Wigan Attendance: 10,075

Final

13 January 1996

Wigan	25 – 16	St Helens
Tries: Paul (2), Tuigamala, Radlinski Goals: Paul (4) Drop goals: Edwards		Tries: Hayes, Newlove, Cunningham Goals: Goulding (2)

Alfred McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield Attendance: 17,590 Referee: Russell Smith (Castleford) Player of the Match: Keiron Cunningham[10]

Teams and scorers

^[11][12]

Wigan	No.	St. Helens
Gary Connolly	1	Steve Prescott
Jason Robinson	2	Joey Hayes
Va'aiga Tuigamala	3	Scott Gibbs
Kris Radlinski	4	Paul Newlove
Martin Offiah	5	Anthony Sullivan
Henry Paul	6	Karle Hammond
Shaun Edwards (c)	7	Bobbie Goulding (c)
Neil Cowie	8	Apollo Perelini
Martin Hall	9	Keiron Cunningham
Terry O'Connor	10	Ian Pickavance
Scott Quinnell	11	Chris Joynt
Mick Cassidy	12	Simon Booth
Simon Haughton	13	Dean Busby
Rob Smyth	14	Andy Northey (for Anthony Sullivan 47-mins)
Martin Dermott (for Scott Quinnell 59-mins)	15	Vila Matautia (for Ian Pickavance 25-mins) - Ian Pickavance (returned to replace Dean Busby 58-mins)
Graeme West	Coach	Eric Hughes

Prize money

As part of the sponsorship deal and funds, the prize money awarded to the competing teams for this season is as follows :-

Finish Position	Cash Prize	No. receiving prize	Total Cash
Winner	?	1	?
Runner-up	?	1	?
semi-finalist	?	2	?
loser in Rd 3	?	4	?
loser in Rd 2	?	8	?
Loser in Rd 1	?	16	?
Loser in Prelim Round	?	10	?
Grand Total

The road to success

This tree excludes any First round fixtures

	Second round					Third round					Fourth round					Semi-finals					Final
	Workington Town		30
	AS Saint Estève		14
						Workington Town		8
						Widnes		32
	Widnes		32
	Oldham Bears		8
											Widnes		23
											Wigan		28
	Huddersfield		22
	Featherstone Rovers		21
						Huddersfield		0
						Wigan		32
	Wigan		68
	Whitehaven		26
																Wigan		38
																Leeds		18
	Leeds		46
	Salford		22
						Leeds		42
						Bradford Northern		28
	Bradford Northern		22
	Sheffield Eagles		0
											Leeds		44
											Carlisle		22
	Bramley		4
	Hunslet Hawks		22
						Hunslet Hawks		17
						Carlisle		22
	Carlisle		19
	Castleford		18
																					Wigan		25
																					St. Helens		16
	Hull F.C.		56
	Ryedale-York		18
						Hull F.C.		26
						St. Helens		38
	Keighley Cougars		14
	St. Helens		42
											St. Helens		46
											Halifax		18
	London Crusaders		82
	Highfield		0
						London Crusaders		18
						Halifax		22
	Halifax		20
	Swinton		18
																St. Helens		80
																Warrington		0
	Batley		21
	Wakefield Trinity		14
						Batley		22
						Warrington		35
	Chorley Borough (2)		10
	Warrington		68
											Warrington		38
											Rochdale Hornets		20
	Dewsbury		17
	Barrow		6
						Dewsbury		14
						Rochdale Hornets		26
	Hull Kingston Rovers		10
	Rochdale Hornets		14

Notes and comments

1 * AS Saint Estève was a French rugby league team from Perpignan, which in 2000 it merged with nearby neighbours XIII Catalan to form Union Treiziste Catalaneto compete in the Super Leagueas the Catalans Dragons.
2 * Pia are a French League Club playing at Stade Daniel-Ambert
3 * Park Amateurs were a Junior (amateur) club from Halifax
4 * Woolston Rovers are a Junior (amateur) club from Warrington, becoming Warrington Woolston Rovers in 2003 and Warrington Wizards in 2002. the ground is the old Warrington Home Ground of Wilderspool ^[13][14]
5 * At the time Bramley were playing their home matches at Clarence Field, Kirkstall, Leeds
6 * Doncaster Dragons were now playing at Belle Vue
7 * Hemel Stags are a semi professional club based in Hemel Hempstead and playing at the Pennine Way stadium (capacity 2000)^[15]
8 * Ellenborough Rangers are a Junior (amateur) club from the Ellenborough suburb of Maryport, Cumbria^[16]
9 * West Hull are a Junior (amateur) club from Hull
10 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject^[1] gives the attendance as 4,180, but Hull official archives^[5] gives 4,180 and St Helens official archives^[3] give 5,102

Postscript

To date, this was the last season for the John Player sponsored trophy competitions, which had taken place annually since its inauguration in the 1971-72 for a period of 25 seasons.
It was unfortunately such a short period for what was intended to be the "League Cup" and that very few of the professional clubs managed to have their name inscribed on the trophy, or even reach the semi-final stage
The reasons given by the ruling body, the Rugby Football League for the competition's demise, were that it was deemed the trophy was adding to fixture congestion for more successful sides and a clean sweep was needed to herald the "Summer Rugby" image of the game.

Records from the John Player trophy competition

^[17][18][19]

Record	No.	No.	cup winner	runner-up
In Final	Record
	Most appearances	9	Wigan
		8	Widnes
		7	Warrington
	Most wins	8	Wigan
		4	Warrington
	Most consecutive wins	2	Wigan (3 times)	85-86, 86-87, 88-89, 89-90, 94-95, 95-96
	Most consecutive appearances	4	Wigan	92-93, 93-94, 94-95, 95-96
	Highest Score	40-10	Wigan	v Warrington 1994-95
	Highest Agg score	40-10	as last
	Lowest Agg score	3-2	Bradford Northern	v Widnes 1974-75
	Widest margin	33-2	Castleford	v Wigan 1993-94
	Biggest Attendance		25,326 - Boothferry Park	Hull Kingston Rovers v Hull F.C. 1981-82
	Smallest Attendance		4,512 - The Willows	Castleford v Blackpool Borough 1976-77
	Highest Receipts		unknown - but possibly	£94,874 - Widnes v Wigan 1988-89
Individual in a final
	Most tries	3	Ellery Hanley	Wigan v Halifax 1989-90
	Most goals	8	Frano Botica	Wigan v Warrington 1994-95
		6	Derek Whitehead	Warrington v Rochdale Hornets 1973-74
	Most points	16 (8g)	Frano Botica	Wigan v Warrington 1994-95
		15 (6g+1t)	Derek Whitehead	Warrington v Rochdale Hornets 1973-74
In competition
	Highest Score	142-4	Huddersfield	v Blackpool Gladiators (Sat '26-11-1994)
	Other record scores at the time	138-0	Barrow	v Nottingham City (Thu '24-11-1994)
		2-92	Runcorn Highfield	v Wigan (Sun '13-11-1988)
		90-12	Wakefield Trinity	v Highfield (Tue '27-10-1992)
		82-0	Widnes	v Dewsbury (Sun '30-11-1986)
		2-70	Batley	v Leigh (Sun '24-11-1985)
		64-0	Whitehaven	v Doncaster (Sun '18-11-1984)
		17-68	Carlisle	v Leigh (Sun '20-11-1983)
		67-11	Hull Kingston Rovers	v Oldham (Sun '24-'09-1978)
		9-51	Blackpool Borough	v Leeds (Sun '24-'09-1972)
	Highest score v junior club	88-5	Castleford	v Millom (Sun '16-'09-1973)
	Highest winning margin	138	see above
	Highest aggregate score	146	see above
Players Records
	Most tries	9	Greg Austin	Huddersfield v Blackpool Gladiators 1994-95
		6	Steve Rowan	Barrow v Nottingham City 1994-95
		6	Vincent Gribbin	Whitehaven v Doncaster 1984-85
	Most goals	17	Darren Carter	Barrow v Nottingham City 1994-95
		17	Geoffrey "Sammy" Lloyd	Castleford v Millom 1973-74
	Most points	43 (17g+3t)	Geoffrey "Sammy" Lloyd	Castleford v Millom 1973-74
		42 (17g+2t)	Darren Carter	Barrow v Nottingham City 1994-95

See also

• 1995-96 Rugby Football League season
• Regal Trophy
• Rugby league county cups