Wigan History #5: Greatest ever season (94-95)

[ancientnloyal]

Anyone remember the 1994-95 season? I was 9/10 years old and fondly remember being dragged to Featherstone on a nice day and seeing steam come off someones urine in an outside toilet (dont ask me why I remember that).

T'was also the year where Wigan scored 1148 points in 30 games (38 points per game) and also Wigans GREATEST EVER SEASON!

Wigan opened the season with a 14 match unbeaten run, the only loss coming in a Tour Match to Australia. The biggest test in the run came in Round 4 when Leeds visited Central Park. Both sides came into the game with 100% starts but Wigan were so dominant they routed the Headingley club 38-6 (told you, 38 points average)

In the Final of the Regal Trophy, we met Warrington on January 28th 1995 at the newly opened McAlpine Stadium in Huddersfield. It was a one sided affair which Wigan comfortably won 40-10. Tries scorers were Phil Clarke, Jason Robinson, Va'aiga Tuigamala (2), Frano Botica, Gary Connolly, Barrie McDermott and Martin Offiah with Botica kicking 4 goals

Halifax travelled to Central Park. It was the first of four home matches in a row, which ultimately would decide the destiny of the title. Wigan absolutely battered them 62-6. Further victories over Doncaster (44-4) and Bradford Northern (60-34) meant Wigan had a chance to clinch the title in the Good Friday derby with St Helens. The Saints fans had to suffer seeing Wigan not only win the title in front of them, but also lift it at the end of a 34-18 win. So a sixth consecutive league championship was won with two matches to spare. Wigan finished on 56 points, seven clear of Leeds.

The 1995 Challenge Cup Final would turn out to be the last final of the famous 8 in a row won by Wigan. The match was a repeat of the 1994 final, with Leeds being the opponents. Wigan managed to win more convincingly than they had done the previous year with a 30-10 win, watched by 78.550. Leeds had kicked an early penalty before Wigan scored in the 18th minute as Jason Robinson finished a great 35 metre run into the corner. He beat off three defenders in doing so and Frano Botica's conversion made it 6-2. Henry Paul increased the lead on 26 minutes but Botica missed the extras that time. A penalty goal apiece made it 12-4 to Wigan at the break. Like they normally do in Wembley finals, Wigan stepped up a gear second half. Robinson claimed a second try early on before further tries from Martin Hall and Va'aiga Tuigamala cemented the win.

So Wigan had won all five trophies on offer to them between June 1994 and 1995. A quite outstanding achievement considering they only lost 2 matches in doing so. (Cherry-n-white.co.uk)


1 Wigan 30 28 0 2 - 1148 386 56
2 Leeds 30 24 1 5 - 863 526 49
3 Castleford 30 20 2 8 - 872 564 42
4 St Helens 30 20 1 9 - 893 640 41
5 Halifax 30 18 2 10 - 782 566 38
6 Warrington 30 18 2 10 - 753 570 38
7 Bradford Northern 30 17 1 12 - 811 650 35
8 Sheffield Eagles 30 15 0 15 - 646 699 30
9 Workington Town 30 12 1 17 - 538 743 25
10 Oldham 30 11 1 18 - 534 746 23
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11 Featherstone Rovers 30 10 1 19 - 582 687 21
12 Salford 30 10 1 19 - 613 775 21
13 Wakefield Trinity 30 9 0 21 - 434 807 18
14 Widnes 30 8 1 21 - 481 767 17
15 Hull 30 7 1 22 - 594 880 15
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16 Doncaster 30 5 1 24 - 469 1007 11

http://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/in ... age_id=255 if you want to see full results and stuff

[ancientnloyal]

Date Opposition Venue Result
21/08/94 Featherstone Rovers Away Won 36-24
28/08/94 Sheffield Eagles Home Won 40-16
04/09/94 Oldham Away Won 58-10
09/09/94 Leeds Home Won 38-6
18/09/94 Widnes Home Won 46-12
23/09/94 Castleford Away Won 31-28
02/10/94 Wakefield Trinity Home Won 46-0
08/10/94 Tour Match: Australia Home Lost 20-30
12/10/94 Workington Town Away Won 30-6
16/10/94 Salford Home Won 52-22
28/10/94 Hull Away Won 19-12
11/11/94 Sheffield Eagles Away Won 36-20
23/11/94 Featherstone Rovers Home Won 30-6
27/11/94 Oldham Home Won 46-0
04/12/94 Regal Trophy R2: Rochdale Home Won 34-12
11/12/94 Leeds Away Lost 28-33
18/12/94 Regal Trophy R3: Hull Away Won 38-14
26/12/94 St Helens Away Won 32-25
01/01/95 Warrington Home Won 30-12
08/01/95 Regal Trophy QF: St Helens Home Won 24-22
15/01/95 Regal Trophy SF: Castleford Home Won 34-6
20/01/95 Bradford Northern Away Won 14-10
24/01/95 Doncaster Away Won 28-10
28/01/95 Regal Trophy Final: Warrington Hudds Won 40-10
05/02/95 Castleford Home Won 46-6
11/02/95 Challenge Cup R4: St Helens Home Draw 13-13
15/02/95 Chall.Cup R4 Replay: St Helens Away Won 40-24
19/02/95 Wakefield Trinity Away Won 20-12
25/02/95 Challenge Cup R5: Batley Away Won 70-4
05/03/95 Workington Town Home Won 38-0
11/03/95 Challenge Cup QF: Widnes Away Won 26-12
15/03/95 Widnes Away Won 46-12
19/03/95 Salford Away Won 42-8
25/03/95 Challenge Cup SF: Oldham Hudds Won 48-20
29/03/95 Halifax Away Lost 16-18
02/04/95 Halifax Home Won 62-6
05/04/95 Doncaster Home Won 44-4
09/04/95 Bradford Northern Home Won 60-34
14/04/95 St Helens Home Won 34-18
17/04/95 Warrington Away Won 34-0
23/04/95 Hull Home Won 66-16
29/04/95 Challenge Cup Final: Leeds Wembley Won 30-10
07/05/95 Premiership QF: Sheffield Home Won 48-16
12/05/95 Premiership SF: Warrington Home Won 50-20
21/05/95 Premiership Final: Leeds MUFC Won 69-12

[Antwigan]

Good read that squire. Cant beleive we lost to Halifax 18 - 16 though. Just makes you wonder why teams like them and Feath etc were allowed to be left to rot either by the men in charge of the clubs then and/or the rugby football league. Should the RFL have stepped in when witneesing the desimation of these once great clubs. Just look at Swinton now too. An absolute disgrace...But who's to blame?

[ancientnloyal]

I would love to go to featherstone, doncaster, workington again, not in cup matches though... old fashioned rugby grounds are what its all about. its nice having the JJB and Galpharm, but grounds like Featherstone, whitehaven and even Leigh (to some degree) create a good atmosphere.

who knows what happened! when SL came up in 1996 they perhaps they were too small a club... money is the God is it not? one day these bigsmall clubs will come back!

[#1 warrior princess]

I miss Central Park, it was a tin shack, but did it have atmosphere - the real home of the Warriors!

[luke_robinsons_angel]

[quote]ancientnloyal posted:
I would love to go to featherstone, doncaster, workington again, not in cup matches though... old fashioned rugby grounds are what its all about. its nice having the JJB and Galpharm, but grounds like Featherstone, whitehaven and even Leigh (to some degree) create a good atmosphere.quote]

at leigh they have worms coming up through the terraces at back of the sticks at asda end

[GeoffN]

luke_robinsons_ angel posted:
at leigh they have worms coming up through the terraces at back of the sticks at asda end

Have they moved the home dressing room, then?

[pedro]

They even won BBC sports team of the year which was quite an achievemant considering how small the sport is.

[Stev0]

TWO EYED WARRIOR posted:

luke_robinsons_ angel posted:
at leigh they have worms coming up through the terraces at back of the sticks at asda end

They do anything those leythers to get away without paying cheap skates, or is it a ploy to boost the attendances??

No it's so when you get bored you can go fishing in the nearby cut. They recon you've a good chance of hooking a BMX frame with a juicy worm.

[Welski]

ancientnloyal posted:
Tries scorers were Phil Clarke, Jason Robinson, Va'aiga Tuigamala (2), Frano Botica, Gary Connolly, Barrie McDermott and Martin Offiah with Botica kicking 4 goals

Any idea what the secret was to the success that year?