Winter rugby, cash strapped clubs, no Sky TV, two
divisions, no play offs, County Cups, the John Player Trophy, Kangaroo and
British Lions Tours and no Eddie and Stevo plus Hull KR won more trophies than
Leeds did……..which might surprise a lot of current supporters of both teams.
In the rest of the world at that time Margaret Thatcher was
still Prime Minister and would be for another 5 years, Ronald Reagan was
President of the USA and his country was still coming to terms with the Challenger
Space Shuttle explosion and Britain and France announced plans to construct the
Channel Tunnel.  |
| Alex Ferguson at Aberdeen |
In football Alex Ferguson was winning trophy’s with
Aberdeen and making a name for himself before his move to Manchester United
later in the year, Bobby Robson was ready to lead England to the 1986 World Cup
in Mexico and Liverpool, led by Player Manager Kenny Dalglish, were closing in
on their 16th League Championship title with local rivals and
defending Champions Everton, led by top goal scorer Gary Lineker, finishing
runners up. Liverpool would also go on to complete the much heralded League and
Cup double for the first time defeating Everton in the first all-Merseyside FA
Cup Final as well.
Unbelievably to most people these days Oxford United were
playing in the First Division (no Premier League in them days) and went on to
win the League Cup with a victory over QPR. Other members of football’s elite
division at that time were Sheffield Wednesday, Luton Town, Nottingham Forest,
Coventry City and Birmingham City. |
| Iron Mike Tyson |
In other sport Joe Johnson unexpectedly won the World
Snooker Championship defeating the legendary Steve Davis, Eric Bristow had won
his 5th and final World Darts Championship, Chicago Bears won the
Superbowl and a certain Mike Tyson was making his destructive way in the boxing
world on the way to becoming the youngest ever Heavyweight Champion.
At the time of the classic 1986 semi-final and replay
between the two sides, Rovers were gunning for a third successive league title
having won the old first past the post the team at the top of the table at the
end of the season are the League Champions old fashioned thing in both the
1983/84 and 1984/85 seasons.
They were still led by the legendary Roger Millward who had
become the club’s most successful ever coach with 3 league titles, 2
Premiership Trophy’s, 1 Challenge Cup, 1 John Player Trophy, 1 Floodlit Trophy
and 1 Yorkshire Cup and they had top quality players like George Fairbairn,
Mike Smith, Australians John Dorahy and Gavin Miller, who would go on to win
the Man of Steel Award at the end of the season and New Zealand internationals
Gary Prohm and Gordon Smith.
Leeds had a new coach in former Bradford Northern and Great
Britain coach Peter Fox and were superbly led by Australian stand off Cliff
Lyons who showed some fine form inside his fellow Australian Tony Currie. Young
forwards Roy Powell and Paul Medley were putting in some powerful performances,
veteran forward Jeff Grayshon had followed Fox from Bradford and they had
brought in young Batley three quarter Carl Gibson for a fee of £50,000.
The Headingley side had not won the League Championship
since 1972 or the Challenge Cup since 1978 and were desperate to halt that run.
Hull KR had already won the Yorkshire Cup earlier in the
season, defeating Castleford 22-18, and had lost the John Player Trophy final
narrowly, 11-8, to Wigan in January. Winning the semi-final would mean that
they would play every game possible in the 85/86 season – something that they
would pay a high price for at the end of the season.
In the month of March Leeds had played Widnes on three
consecutive weekends – back to back league games ended with home wins before
the teams met in the Challenge Cup quarter final at Naughton Park. The game
ended in a 10-10 draw so the teams met for the fourth consecutive occasion in
the replay at Headingley 3 days later. Leeds won 5-0.
A league victory over Castleford preceded the Easter
Weekend semi-final and Leeds entered the game in good form.
On the other hand Hull KR had lost 2 consecutive league
games leading up to the semi-final, losing at home to eventual champions
Halifax and away at Warrington.
The 1985 Challenge Cup final between Wigan and Hull was
widely celebrated as one of the greatest games of all time – the semi-final and
replay would prove to be equally as good, if not better.
A crowd in excess of 23,000 filed into Elland Road on
Easter Saturday and were treated to a wonderful ebbing and flowing game of
rugby league.
David Creasser and John Dorahy traded early penalty goals
and it was Leeds three quarter Creasser who scored the first try of the match
as he dived in at the corner away from a despairing Fairbairn cover tackle.
Leeds led 6-2 before one of the pivotal moments of the match occurred. |
| Cliff Lyons |
After Terry Webb had extended the lead with a drop goal his
fellow Australian Tony Currie powered through the Rovers defence and scrum half
Paul Harkin led with his legs in attempt to stop Currie from scoring – the
impact did not stop him from staying on his feet and crashing over the line to
extend the lead. Immediately the try was awarded referee Robin Whitfield sent
Harkin off – Rovers would have to play a significant part of the match with 12
men.
Creasser’s conversion hit the post but Cliff Lyons was
successful with another drop goal and Leeds led 12-2.
Rovers had also lost international forward Chris Burton
with a broken arm and they had a real fight on to regain their composure and
discipline and get back in the game.
Unsung winger David Laws helped them do just that when he
swooped on a Leeds error and scored in the corner just before half time. Rovers
were back in it and trailed by 6 at the half time break.
Rovers brought on Gordon Smith at half time and he brought
greater control to Rovers game but it was the other Smith, long serving
international Mike, who would be instrumental in powering Rovers in front.
 |
| Mike Smith |
Peter Fox had instilled some steel into a previously flimsy
Leeds team and they did not lay down and accept defeat but merely played some
fantastic rugby that added to this epic semi-final.
Currie scored his second try, converted by Creasser, to
leave Leeds just 4 points down against a tiring Rovers defence. It was left to
the powerful 19 year old second rower Paul Medley to level the scores as he
crashed over the line with just a few minutes left. Creasser could not win the
game for Leeds and the final hooter sounded with the scores locked at 24-24.
The teams did it all again 5 days later in a match that
reached an even higher level in front of a jam packed crowd of 32,485 at the
same venue.
The first 40 minutes passed in a flash as both teams played
some brilliant rugby with hardly a scrum, penalty or handling error
interrupting the flow of the game. Both defences were outstanding and could not
be breached so the tie was still level after another exhilarating 40 minutes.
It was Hull KR who stepped up to the mark in the second
half and took the game by the scruff of the neck. Paul Harkin put the first
point on the board with a drop goal before Australian prop Peter Johnston
scored the first try of the game – his only try of the season and probably the
most important of his career. Dorahy missed the simple conversion but added a
penalty soon after to give Rovers a 7-0 lead.
Rovers were now in control and Miller, Dorahy, Harkin and
Phil Hogan were causing all sorts of problems for the Leeds defence.
Substitute John Lydiat scored Rovers second try and the
Rovers fans, along with Lydiat, roared and danced with delight as they had
finally broken the spirit of a strong Leeds side.
Second row forward Andy Kelly added a further try,
converted by Dorahy, close to the end of the game to confirm Rovers as
Challenge Cup finalists with a 17-0 victory that Millward described as ‘’the
most complete performance in my time as coach.’’
Rovers hopes of landing a third successive league title
were ruined by their success in all of the Cup competitions.
After the semi-final replay Rovers still had 9 league games
(nearly a third of their entire league fixtures) to complete before the end of
April.
They managed to win just 3 more league games as they were
forced to play those 9 league games in a 16 day period from the 6th
to the 22nd April including 5 successive homes games in 7 days and
were playing games at 2 day intervals and even played Leeds and Salford on
consecutive nights (beating Leeds 28-12). At times they had to play on pitches
that at other times of the season would have seen the games postponed.
The defending Champions slid to 7th in the
league table and went on to lose the Challenge Cup Final 15-14 to Castleford –
a last minute Lydiat try could not be converted from the touchline by Dorahy
and Rovers had struggled all match because the inspirational Gavin Miller was
clearly not fully fit after suffering a thigh injury just prior to the final.
It was the beginning of the end of the golden period in the
history of Hull Kingston Rovers and the last time that Hull KR played at
Wembley until this Saturday when they take on massive task of preventing the
Rhinos from winning a second successive Challenge Cup Final.
 |
| Albert Kelly |
Can Rovers upset the odds this time and defeat a Leeds
Rhinos team intent on sending off club legends Kevin Sinfield and Jamie Peacock
in the best possible way?
It will be tough but let’s hope the calibre of the match is
up to the standards of the 1986 semi-final and replay.
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