Super League I - 1996 (From Warrington Guardian)

Super League I - 1996

11:14am Friday 23rd June 2006

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THE 1996 season witnessed a major turning point in the history of not only Warrington RLFC, but of rugby league as a whole.

This was the first season of Super League, with teams from Paris St Germain and London Broncos competing alongside the traditional northern heavyweights of the sport.

The times were changing quickly - and the Super League revolution swept away the sport's traditional winter fixtures, bringing instead a calendar of summer games which would allow the stars to show off their skills in the best possible conditions. Before Super League began, Wire - under the guidance of Australian coach John Dorahy - were involved in Challenge Cup action.

They started off with a 26-4 win at Oldham, but then suffered a disappointing 30-10 defeat at home to Leeds in the next round. Warrington's inaugural Super League game took place at Headingley on Sunday, March 31, and it was to be an exciting and successful start to the summer era, as the men from Wilderspool edged a 22-18 victory in a thrilling clash against Leeds, gaining revenge for their Challenge Cup defeat. Wire's tries came from Iestyn Harris, Ian Knott and Mateaki Mafi, with Harris landing five goals.

By the end of April, Wire had won four of their first five games - the only blemish being a 42-12 thumping at Central Park, Wigan - and were sitting pretty in third place in the table.

Fans were being thrilled by the try-scoring exploits of two new signings, the Kiwi duo Toa Kohe-Love and Richard Henare, whose silky skills and blistering pace were making them firm favourites of the Wilderspool faithful.

May, however, proved not such a merry month for Wire, who lost 36-14 at Bradford and also fell to an agonising 25-24 home defeat at the hands of unbeaten league leaders St Helens.

A mixed bag of results followed in June. Wire notched a narrow 26-24 win in Paris, with exciting youngsters Jon Roper and Paul Sculthorpe getting on the scoresheet, but they also suffered a 35-24 loss at Oldham and were humiliated 21-0 by arch-rivals Wigan in front of 8,103 fans at Wilderspool.

As the month came to an end, Wire found themselves in fourth place, behind St Helens, Wigan and Bradford but still with a three-point cushion over fifth-placed London.

A wretched July then did much to scupper Warrington's top-four ambitions, with defeats away to Halifax and Sheffield and at home to Bradford. A 49-4 win away to bottom-placed Workington, with Mark Forster scoring two tries, lifted the spirits briefly, and although Wire ended the month still placed fourth, London were now just a point adrift. August began with Wire slipping out of the top four following a 20-13 loss away to the Broncos, but wins against Castleford and Oldham put them back in fourth place with just one round to go.

However, the season ended on an emphatic low for the primrose and blue legions, as Wire slumped to a 66-14 hammering at St Helens while London thumped Castleford 56-0 to seal fourth spot and a place in the Premiership.

St Helens' win over Warrington on the final day was enough to make them the inaugural Super League champions, with Wigan a point behind in second place. Warrington finished in fifth spot, with a record of 12 wins and 10 defeats from their 22 games.

Henare was the club's leading try-scorer with 17, while brilliant youngster Harris scored four tries and kicked 67 goals plus two drop goals for a 152-point haul. It was a season which had started with so much promise, but which ended on a sour note, with four defeats in the final six games and with an unhappy Harris announcing that he wanted a move away from Wilderspool.

Wire squad: Paul Barrow, Andy Bennett, Gary Chambers, Paul Cullen, Andy Currier, Gareth Davies, Chris Eckersley, Salesi Finau, Mike Ford, Mark Forster, Iestyn Harris, Richard Henare, Mark Hilton, Chris Holden, John Hough, Paul Hulme, Mark Jones, Ronnie Kettlewell, Ian Knott, Toa Kohe-Love, Mateaki Mafi, Lee Penny, Jon Roper, Chris Rudd, Paul Sculthorpe, Kelly Shelford, Warren Stevens, Phil Sumner, Willie Swann, Mike Wainwright, Kris Watson.

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