Clash of the Codes (rugby)
Encyclopedia
Clash of the Codes is the name given to the special two match inter-code
series between rugby union
side Bath RFC
and rugby league
side Wigan RLFC
played in May 1996.
In 1895, most rugby clubs in the North of England broke away from the governing body of Rugby football, the Rugby Football Union
, and formed a rival body, the Northern Rugby Football Union (later renamed the Rugby Football League
) over the issue of payments to players. This "Great Schism" led to the creation of two forms of Rugby football - rugby union
governed by the Rugby Football Union and rugby league
overseen by the Rugby Football League.
100 years later in August 1995, the International Rugby Board
announced that rugby union
was to be an "open" game, ending the prohibition of payments to players. In January 1996, an announcement was made that Bath RFC
, at that time the dominant club side in English rugby union, and Wigan RLFC
, similarly the country's dominant rugby league side, would meet in a two game, cross-code challenege series that would see both clubs playing to each others' set of laws.
The cross-code challenge met with lukewarm support from both the Rugby Football Union
and the Rugby Football League
. The dates for the games were set for May 1996, which was the end of the domestic rugby union season, but was only a few weeks into the rugby league season (rugby league having made the switch to being a summer game that year). The date for the proposed game under union rules clashed with Wigan's Super League
game against Sheffield Eagles
, while the RFU stated that Twickenham
would be unavailable to stage the game when they were approached by Bath due to their plans to reseed the pitch. Both clubs had agreed that, to maximise the potential attendances, the two games should be held at venues other than their own stadia (the Recreation Ground
and Central Park
). However, when word came out that Cardiff Arms Park
had offered to stage the union game instead, the RFU decided to postpone the pitch reseeding and offer Twickenham as the venue. Maine Road
, the home of Manchester City
, and a regular venue for major rugby league games at the time, was chosen to host the game to be played under league rules
.
were the dominant club in England. Since the beginning of the league structure in rugby union in 1987, the club had won six Courage League titles, while also winning a total of ten JPS/Pilkington Cups since that competition was started in 1972. The club also provided a sizeable number of players to the England team
, including the then newly appointed England captain Phil de Glanville
.
era in rugby league saw Wigan
still at the top of rugby league. The team had just won the last winter RFL championship, their seventh consecutive title, while they had lost in the Challenge Cup
for the first time in a decade, having won their ninth consecutive final in April 1995. As with Bath, Wigan provided a significant number of players to the national side
.
that they had won 16-15, thus achieving a league and cup double, having won the Courage League title the week before. As a consequence, Bath had little opportunity to prepare for the game at Maine Road
, with a single warm up game under league rules against South Wales RLFC
. By contrast, Wigan had a relatively quiet build up; the Challenge Cup
final, played the week before, was the first not to feature the club for a decade, allowing the players a week without a game. The day after Bath's Pilkington Cup final, Wigan played a Super League
game at home to Paris Saint-Germain, which they won 76-8.
failed to make his kick go the required 10 metres. Within 90 seconds of the kick-off, Martin Offiah
touched down for Wigan, but was penalised for a foot in touch. However, with only three minutes gone, Offiah scored the first of his six tries
of the night. The difficulties that Bath had with coming to terms with the game led to further tries for Offiah (2), Henry Paul
, Jason Robinson
, Terry O'Connor
, Andy Johnson
, Craig Murdock and Scott Quinnell
.
Bath were able to get into the game more after half-time and, following O'Connor's second try for Wigan, got on the scoresheet through Callard touching down and converting. This though led to a further period of sustained pressure from Wigan that led to a further six tries from the reigning champions and a final score of 82-6 in favour of Wigan.
. In that time, Wigan played two league games away to Halifax
and Workington Town
. Prior to these, the club became the first rugby league side to play at Twickenham when they sent a strong squad to take part in the Middlesex Sevens, a tournament that they went on to win, beating Wasps
in the final.
With Bath having won the league and cup double, and the domestic season concluded prior to the first game, they were able to concentrate on the preparation for the second encounter.
to take and recycle the ball, allowing Bath's forwards an early opportunity to ruck and maul against opponents unused to this type of play. Only a Bath knock-on during the drive prevented a repeat of the first game and an early try for the experts. What this meant though was the Wigan pack engaging in a union scrum
early on, and coming to terms with the differences of this compared with a typically uncontested scrum in their own game. Indeed, it was through scrummaging inexperience that Wigan conceded their first try, a penalty try given through their repeated collapsing of the scrum. Bath gained further tries through Adedayo Adebayo
(2) and Jon Sleightholme
prior to half-time, allowing the Courage League champions to build an unanswered 25 point lead at the break.
As in the first game, the second half followed a similar pattern to begin with, with Mike Catt
and Phil de Glanville scoring early, with the likelihood coming of a score of similar dimensions. However, as the second half progressed, Bath's players began to tire and allowed gaps to open up for Wigan to exploit. Craig Murdock scored a pair of tries that went the length of the field, while Va'aiga Tuigamala
got a third before Ian Sanders got Bath's seventh with a pushover from the pack. Unlike the first game, the second half of the second game saw the visitors match the home side for points to leave a final score of 44-19 in Bath's favour.
, were looking for ways to regain that, while Bath were in the process of making the transition into a fully professional outfit. That being said, the series did allow Bath to be exposed to a professional rugby team, with all of the consequences for fitness, strength and pace in rugby union.
Although Bath were evidently outmatched in the first game, they were able to take some positives; Phil de Glanville made the most tackles of any back on either side, while de Glanville, Steve Ojomoh
, Jon Callard
and Adedayo Adebayo
all impressed watching league experts. Similarly, in the second game, as Bath tired, Wigan were able to exploit both their superior fitness and their superior running game (a facet of rugby league as opposed to rugby union) to gain a foothold during the second half.
Following the transition of rugby union to professionalism, and the ending of the ban on players that had played rugby league from playing the game, a number of notable rugby league players chose to take up short-term contracts with clubs in the Courage League during the Super League
close-season. A number of Wigan's players from the cross-code series undertook such moves, including Jason Robinson
and Henry Paul
who turned out for Bath, as well as Martin Offiah
, Va'aiga Tuigamala
and Gary Connolly
. Some later made permanent moves to the 15-a-side game, with Tuigamala's transfer to Newcastle Falcons
for £1m being a world record, while Robinson became a mainstay of the England rugby union team
, winning the World Cup
in 2003
.
The cross-code challenge occurred while both Bath and Wigan were in the twilight of their time at the top of their respective games. Wigan's great rivals St Helens won the first Super League title
in 1996 and, although Wigan won the first grand final
in 1998, and got to three subsequent Grand Finals, they would not win another league title until 2010
. Bath meanwhile won the 1998 Heineken Cup, becoming the first English team to do so, but have failed to win a domestic trophy since the 1996 Pilkington Cup, with their position at the summit of the English game taken by their fierce rivals Leicester.
The two match series was the beginning of a thaw in relations between rugby union and rugby league. The success of Wigan's two visits to Twickenham
, for both the game against Bath and the Middlesex Sevens, led to the RFU
offering to play host to the Challenge Cup Final
in the event of Wembley, the event's traditional home, not being available. The RFL
eventually took them up on this offer, with both the 2001 and 2006 finals taking place at the home of Rugby Union. Twickenham was also the venue for the opening game of the 2000 Rugby League World Cup
between England
and Australia, the first time the 13-a-side game had been played there, while games during that tournament were also played at Kingsholm
and Stradey Park
, both bastions of club rugby union. Bradford Bulls
then followed Wigan's lead by participating in and winning the Middlesex Sevens in 2002. Similarly, rugby union has also on occasion decamped into the northern heartlands of rugby league; in 1998, England
played two qualifying games for the 1999 Rugby World Cup
at the Alfred McAlpine Stadium
in Huddersfield
, which also hosted a game during the final tournament. England have also played twice at Old Trafford
, the traditional home of the Super League Grand Final
. However, possibly the most notable event, certainly in England, came in 1998 when Leeds Rhinos RLFC
and Leeds Tykes RUFC merged to form Leeds Rugby Limited
, described as "the world's first dual code rugby partnership". Although there are separate teams in both codes, they are owned by a common organisation with a single board.
in a single game played at Knowsley Road
, intended to have one half under league rules and the other under union rules. Unlike Bath, who were to all intents and purposes still the amateur side they had been, Sale had the benefit of almost a decade of professionalism to improve both strength and fitness that was necessary for them to adapt to the constant tackling required in rugby league, as well as being able to call on the services of a number of ex-league players. Having built up a 41-0 lead under union rules, this allowed the Sharks to restrict St Helens to only 39 points under league rules.
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
series between rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
side Bath RFC
Bath Rugby
Bath Rugby is an English professional rugby union club that is based in the city of Bath. They play in the Aviva Premiership league...
and rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
side Wigan RLFC
Wigan Warriors
Wigan Warriors is an English rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club's first team squad competes in the engage Super League and the team are the current Challenge Cup holders as of the 27th August 2011....
played in May 1996.
Background
Rugby Football Union
The Rugby Football Union was founded in 1871 as the governing body for the sport of rugby union, and performed as the international governing body prior to the formation of the International Rugby Board in 1886...
, and formed a rival body, the Northern Rugby Football Union (later renamed the Rugby Football League
Rugby Football League
The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league football in England. Based at Red Hall in Leeds, it administers the England national rugby league team, the Challenge Cup, Super League and the Rugby League Championships...
) over the issue of payments to players. This "Great Schism" led to the creation of two forms of Rugby football - rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
governed by the Rugby Football Union and rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
overseen by the Rugby Football League.
100 years later in August 1995, the International Rugby Board
International Rugby Board
The International Rugby Board is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. It was founded in 1886 as the International Rugby Football Board by the unions of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. England refused to join until 1890. The International Rugby Football Board changed its name to the...
announced that rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
was to be an "open" game, ending the prohibition of payments to players. In January 1996, an announcement was made that Bath RFC
Bath Rugby
Bath Rugby is an English professional rugby union club that is based in the city of Bath. They play in the Aviva Premiership league...
, at that time the dominant club side in English rugby union, and Wigan RLFC
Wigan Warriors
Wigan Warriors is an English rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club's first team squad competes in the engage Super League and the team are the current Challenge Cup holders as of the 27th August 2011....
, similarly the country's dominant rugby league side, would meet in a two game, cross-code challenege series that would see both clubs playing to each others' set of laws.
Rugby Football Union
The Rugby Football Union was founded in 1871 as the governing body for the sport of rugby union, and performed as the international governing body prior to the formation of the International Rugby Board in 1886...
and the Rugby Football League
Rugby Football League
The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league football in England. Based at Red Hall in Leeds, it administers the England national rugby league team, the Challenge Cup, Super League and the Rugby League Championships...
. The dates for the games were set for May 1996, which was the end of the domestic rugby union season, but was only a few weeks into the rugby league season (rugby league having made the switch to being a summer game that year). The date for the proposed game under union rules clashed with Wigan's Super League
Super League
Super League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition in Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: thirteen from England and one from...
game against Sheffield Eagles
Sheffield Eagles
Sheffield Eagles RLFC are an English rugby league club based in the South Yorkshire city of Sheffield. They currently play in the Co-operative Championship. Their home games are played at Bramall Lane after leaving Don Valley Stadium in late 2009....
, while the RFU stated that Twickenham
Twickenham Stadium
Twickenham Stadium is a stadium located in Twickenham, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is the largest rugby union stadium in the United Kingdom and has recently been enlarged to seat 82,000...
would be unavailable to stage the game when they were approached by Bath due to their plans to reseed the pitch. Both clubs had agreed that, to maximise the potential attendances, the two games should be held at venues other than their own stadia (the Recreation Ground
Recreation Ground (Bath)
The Recreation Ground is a large open space in the centre of Bath, England, next to the River Avon, used for recreational purposes by Bath residents and the public generally....
and Central Park
Central Park (Wigan)
Central Park was a rugby league stadium in Wigan, England. It was the home of Wigan RLFC before the club moved to the JJB Stadium in 1999. Its final capacity was 18,000.-History:...
). However, when word came out that Cardiff Arms Park
Cardiff Arms Park
Cardiff Arms Park , also known as The Arms Park, is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green, and is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. The Arms Park was host to the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1958, and hosted four games in the 1991 Rugby World...
had offered to stage the union game instead, the RFU decided to postpone the pitch reseeding and offer Twickenham as the venue. Maine Road
Maine Road
Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England that was home to Manchester City F.C. from its construction in 1923 until 2003...
, the home of Manchester City
Manchester City F.C.
Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's , they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894...
, and a regular venue for major rugby league games at the time, was chosen to host the game to be played under league rules
Laws of rugby league
The laws of rugby league, officially the Laws of the Game, are the laws governing the game of rugby league football. The Laws apply to the play, officiating, equipment and procedures of the sport. The Laws are the responsibility of the Rugby League International Federation.Rugby league governing...
.
The teams
Bath
Entering the new professional era, BathBath Rugby
Bath Rugby is an English professional rugby union club that is based in the city of Bath. They play in the Aviva Premiership league...
were the dominant club in England. Since the beginning of the league structure in rugby union in 1987, the club had won six Courage League titles, while also winning a total of ten JPS/Pilkington Cups since that competition was started in 1972. The club also provided a sizeable number of players to the England team
England national rugby union team
The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Wales. They have won this championship on 26 occasions, 12 times winning the Grand Slam, making them the most successful team in...
, including the then newly appointed England captain Phil de Glanville
Phil de Glanville
Philip Ranulph de Glanville is a former English rugby union player who played at centre for Bath and England.-Rugby career:...
.
Wigan
The beginning of the new Super LeagueSuper League
Super League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition in Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: thirteen from England and one from...
era in rugby league saw Wigan
Wigan Warriors
Wigan Warriors is an English rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club's first team squad competes in the engage Super League and the team are the current Challenge Cup holders as of the 27th August 2011....
still at the top of rugby league. The team had just won the last winter RFL championship, their seventh consecutive title, while they had lost in the Challenge Cup
Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup is a knockout cup competition for rugby league clubs organised by the Rugby Football League. Originally it was contested only by British teams but in recent years has been expanded to allow teams from France and Russia to take part....
for the first time in a decade, having won their ninth consecutive final in April 1995. As with Bath, Wigan provided a significant number of players to the national side
Great Britain national rugby league team
The Great Britain national rugby league team represents the United Kingdom in rugby league football. Administered by the Rugby Football League , the team is nicknamed "The Lions" or "Great Britain Lions"....
.
Build-up
Five days prior to the rugby league game, Bath had won the Pilkington Cup in a hard-fought match up against LeicesterLeicester Tigers
Leicester Tigers is an English rugby union club that plays in the Aviva Premiership.Leicester are the most successful English club since the introduction of league rugby in 1987, a record 9 times English champions - 3 more than either Bath or Wasps, the last of which was in 2010...
that they had won 16-15, thus achieving a league and cup double, having won the Courage League title the week before. As a consequence, Bath had little opportunity to prepare for the game at Maine Road
Maine Road
Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England that was home to Manchester City F.C. from its construction in 1923 until 2003...
, with a single warm up game under league rules against South Wales RLFC
South Wales RLFC (1995)
South Wales RLFC was a rugby league club formed in 1995. South Wales during their existence played at Morfa Stadium, Swansea, the Talbot Athletic Ground, Aberavon and Cardiff Arms Park.-History of rugby league in South Wales:...
. By contrast, Wigan had a relatively quiet build up; the Challenge Cup
Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup is a knockout cup competition for rugby league clubs organised by the Rugby Football League. Originally it was contested only by British teams but in recent years has been expanded to allow teams from France and Russia to take part....
final, played the week before, was the first not to feature the club for a decade, allowing the players a week without a game. The day after Bath's Pilkington Cup final, Wigan played a Super League
Super League
Super League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition in Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: thirteen from England and one from...
game at home to Paris Saint-Germain, which they won 76-8.
The game
Bath got off to a bad start from the kick-off, when Jon CallardJon Callard
Jonathan Edward Brooks Callard is a coach at the Rugby Football Union's National Academy. He formerly played rugby union at fullback for Bath and England. He is the brother of ex-Newport RFC player Nigel Callard....
failed to make his kick go the required 10 metres. Within 90 seconds of the kick-off, Martin Offiah
Martin Offiah
Martin Offiah MBE is an English former rugby league and rugby union footballer.He is known as "Chariots" Offiah after the film Chariots of Fire...
touched down for Wigan, but was penalised for a foot in touch. However, with only three minutes gone, Offiah scored the first of his six tries
Try
A try is the major way of scoring points in rugby league and rugby union football. A try is scored by grounding the ball in the opposition's in-goal area...
of the night. The difficulties that Bath had with coming to terms with the game led to further tries for Offiah (2), Henry Paul
Henry Paul
Henry Paul , is a dual code rugby international. Paul has previously represented New Zealand in rugby league and England in rugby union XV's and 7's. He currently holds the world record for the most consecutive kicks on the field.Paul's usual position is loose forward/Lock. He can also operate in...
, Jason Robinson
Jason Robinson
Jason Thorpe Robinson OBE is an English former international rugby union and rugby league player of the 1990s and 2000s. Playing at wing or fullback, he won fifty-one rugby union international test caps in total for England, and in rugby league he won twelve caps for Great Britain and seven for...
, Terry O'Connor
Terry O'Connor (rugby league)
Terry O'Connor is an English former rugby league footballer. His position was , or .-Career:A native of Widnes, O'Connor was picked up from local Widnes side St Maries after also playing for Widnes Tigers. He was a former barla international and toured NZ with them in 1991...
, Andy Johnson
Andy Johnson (rugby league)
Andy Johnson born 14 June 1974 in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, is a former rugby league player.Andy Johnson's position of choice was in the second-row and comfortable in a number of other positions....
, Craig Murdock and Scott Quinnell
Scott Quinnell
Scott Quinnell is a former Welsh international rugby league and rugby union player, who was a number 8 for Wales, Llanelli RFC, the Llanelli Scarlets and the Lions. He scored 11 tries for Wales and captained his country on 7 occasions in rugby union.-Biography:Scott is the son of former Welsh...
.
Bath were able to get into the game more after half-time and, following O'Connor's second try for Wigan, got on the scoresheet through Callard touching down and converting. This though led to a further period of sustained pressure from Wigan that led to a further six tries from the reigning champions and a final score of 82-6 in favour of Wigan.
Quotes
Rugby Union
Build-up
Two and a half weeks separated the rugby league game from the return match under union rules at TwickenhamTwickenham Stadium
Twickenham Stadium is a stadium located in Twickenham, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is the largest rugby union stadium in the United Kingdom and has recently been enlarged to seat 82,000...
. In that time, Wigan played two league games away to Halifax
Halifax RLFC
Halifax RLFC is one of the most historic rugby league clubs in the game, formed over a century ago, in 1873 in the Yorkshire town of Halifax. Known as 'Fax', the official club colours are blue and white hoops, blue shorts and blue socks . They share The Shay stadium with football club FC Halifax Town...
and Workington Town
Workington Town
Workington Town is a professional rugby league club playing in Workington in West Cumbria. They play in the Championship 1. Their stadium is called Derwent Park, which they share with Workington Comets, a speedway team....
. Prior to these, the club became the first rugby league side to play at Twickenham when they sent a strong squad to take part in the Middlesex Sevens, a tournament that they went on to win, beating Wasps
London Wasps
London Wasps is an English professional rugby union team. The men's first team, which forms London Wasps, was derived from Wasps Football Club who were formed in 1867 at the now defunct Eton and Middlesex Tavern in North London, at the turn of professionalism in 1999...
in the final.
With Bath having won the league and cup double, and the domestic season concluded prior to the first game, they were able to concentrate on the preparation for the second encounter.
The game
Bath again kicked the game off, but this time, rather than conceding a penalty, Jon Callard's kick enabled Martin HaagMartin Haag
Martin Haag was an English rugby union player who principally played for Bath Rugby and was capped twice by England...
to take and recycle the ball, allowing Bath's forwards an early opportunity to ruck and maul against opponents unused to this type of play. Only a Bath knock-on during the drive prevented a repeat of the first game and an early try for the experts. What this meant though was the Wigan pack engaging in a union scrum
Scrum (rugby union)
In rugby union a scrum is a means of restarting play after a minor infringement. It involves up to eight players from each team, known as the pack or forward pack, binding together in three rows and interlocking with the free opposing teams forwards. At this point the ball is fed into the gap...
early on, and coming to terms with the differences of this compared with a typically uncontested scrum in their own game. Indeed, it was through scrummaging inexperience that Wigan conceded their first try, a penalty try given through their repeated collapsing of the scrum. Bath gained further tries through Adedayo Adebayo
Adedayo Adebayo
Adedayo Adeyemi Adebayo is a rugby union footballer, who played on the wing for England 8 times between 1996 and 1998. He played club rugby for Bath and Parma and then went on to coach the Scottish based sevens side, .He made his international debut on 23 November 1996 against Italy, a match...
(2) and Jon Sleightholme
Jon Sleightholme
Jonathan Mark Sleightholme is a former rugby union footballer who played on the wing for Wakefield, Bath, Northampton Saints, Yorkshire, England Sevens and England....
prior to half-time, allowing the Courage League champions to build an unanswered 25 point lead at the break.
As in the first game, the second half followed a similar pattern to begin with, with Mike Catt
Mike Catt
Michael John "Mike" Catt OBE is a South African-born former English rugby union footballer who played for London Irish and Bath. He earned 75 international caps for England and played in three World Cup Finals, in 1995, 2003 and 2007...
and Phil de Glanville scoring early, with the likelihood coming of a score of similar dimensions. However, as the second half progressed, Bath's players began to tire and allowed gaps to open up for Wigan to exploit. Craig Murdock scored a pair of tries that went the length of the field, while Va'aiga Tuigamala
Va'aiga Tuigamala
Va'aiga Lealuga Tuigamala MNZM is a Samoan rugby footballer. As well as playing for the All Blacks, he represented Samoa in both rugby union and rugby league, playing at centre and wing...
got a third before Ian Sanders got Bath's seventh with a pushover from the pack. Unlike the first game, the second half of the second game saw the visitors match the home side for points to leave a final score of 44-19 in Bath's favour.
Quotes
Aftermath
Although played in some quarters as the start of a great coming together of the two codes, most people saw the "cross-code challenge" as primarily a commercial exercise. Wigan, having lost out on the income generated by a run in the Challenge CupChallenge Cup
The Challenge Cup is a knockout cup competition for rugby league clubs organised by the Rugby Football League. Originally it was contested only by British teams but in recent years has been expanded to allow teams from France and Russia to take part....
, were looking for ways to regain that, while Bath were in the process of making the transition into a fully professional outfit. That being said, the series did allow Bath to be exposed to a professional rugby team, with all of the consequences for fitness, strength and pace in rugby union.
Although Bath were evidently outmatched in the first game, they were able to take some positives; Phil de Glanville made the most tackles of any back on either side, while de Glanville, Steve Ojomoh
Steve Ojomoh
Stephen Oziegebe Ojomoh, known as Steve Ojomoh , is a Nigerian-born English former rugby union footballer and a current coach. He played as a flanker....
, Jon Callard
Jon Callard
Jonathan Edward Brooks Callard is a coach at the Rugby Football Union's National Academy. He formerly played rugby union at fullback for Bath and England. He is the brother of ex-Newport RFC player Nigel Callard....
and Adedayo Adebayo
Adedayo Adebayo
Adedayo Adeyemi Adebayo is a rugby union footballer, who played on the wing for England 8 times between 1996 and 1998. He played club rugby for Bath and Parma and then went on to coach the Scottish based sevens side, .He made his international debut on 23 November 1996 against Italy, a match...
all impressed watching league experts. Similarly, in the second game, as Bath tired, Wigan were able to exploit both their superior fitness and their superior running game (a facet of rugby league as opposed to rugby union) to gain a foothold during the second half.
Following the transition of rugby union to professionalism, and the ending of the ban on players that had played rugby league from playing the game, a number of notable rugby league players chose to take up short-term contracts with clubs in the Courage League during the Super League
Super League
Super League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition in Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: thirteen from England and one from...
close-season. A number of Wigan's players from the cross-code series undertook such moves, including Jason Robinson
Jason Robinson
Jason Thorpe Robinson OBE is an English former international rugby union and rugby league player of the 1990s and 2000s. Playing at wing or fullback, he won fifty-one rugby union international test caps in total for England, and in rugby league he won twelve caps for Great Britain and seven for...
and Henry Paul
Henry Paul
Henry Paul , is a dual code rugby international. Paul has previously represented New Zealand in rugby league and England in rugby union XV's and 7's. He currently holds the world record for the most consecutive kicks on the field.Paul's usual position is loose forward/Lock. He can also operate in...
who turned out for Bath, as well as Martin Offiah
Martin Offiah
Martin Offiah MBE is an English former rugby league and rugby union footballer.He is known as "Chariots" Offiah after the film Chariots of Fire...
, Va'aiga Tuigamala
Va'aiga Tuigamala
Va'aiga Lealuga Tuigamala MNZM is a Samoan rugby footballer. As well as playing for the All Blacks, he represented Samoa in both rugby union and rugby league, playing at centre and wing...
and Gary Connolly
Gary Connolly
Gary J. Connolly was a rugby league full back who later played at centre for St Helens, Canterbury Bulldogs, Wigan Warriors, Leeds Rhinos and for the Great Britain national side. In the twilight of his career, he played rugby union for Irish side Munster.Connolly was a dependable centre capable of...
. Some later made permanent moves to the 15-a-side game, with Tuigamala's transfer to Newcastle Falcons
Newcastle Falcons
The Newcastle Falcons is an English rugby union team currently playing in the Aviva Premiership. The club was established in 1877 and played under the name of Gosforth Football Club until 1990. The name was then changed to Newcastle Gosforth and the club began to play at Kingston Park stadium in...
for £1m being a world record, while Robinson became a mainstay of the England rugby union team
England national rugby union team
The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Wales. They have won this championship on 26 occasions, 12 times winning the Grand Slam, making them the most successful team in...
, winning the World Cup
Rugby World Cup
The Rugby World Cup is an international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board and held every four years since 1987....
in 2003
2003 Rugby World Cup
The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the New Zealand Rugby Football Union and Rugby World...
.
The cross-code challenge occurred while both Bath and Wigan were in the twilight of their time at the top of their respective games. Wigan's great rivals St Helens won the first Super League title
Super League I
The year 1996's Stones Bitter Super League I was the official name for the 102nd season of top-level rugby league football, and the first year of Europe's new championship: Super League. It is also the first season of rugby league to be played in summer...
in 1996 and, although Wigan won the first grand final
Super League III
-Dream Team:The Super League Dream Team for the 1998 season was: 1 Kris Radlinski 2 Jason Robinson 3 Gary Connolly 4 ? 5 Anthony Sullivan 6 Iestyn Harris 7 Gavin Clinch 8 Dale Laughton 9 Robbie McCormack 10 ? 11 Steele Retchless 12 ? 13 ?-External links:**...
in 1998, and got to three subsequent Grand Finals, they would not win another league title until 2010
Super League XV
The 2010 Super League season was the fifteenth season of rugby league football since the Super League format was introduced in 1996. Fourteen teams competed for the League Leader's Shield over 27 rounds . All clubs also participated in the 2010 Challenge Cup tournament...
. Bath meanwhile won the 1998 Heineken Cup, becoming the first English team to do so, but have failed to win a domestic trophy since the 1996 Pilkington Cup, with their position at the summit of the English game taken by their fierce rivals Leicester.
The two match series was the beginning of a thaw in relations between rugby union and rugby league. The success of Wigan's two visits to Twickenham
Twickenham Stadium
Twickenham Stadium is a stadium located in Twickenham, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is the largest rugby union stadium in the United Kingdom and has recently been enlarged to seat 82,000...
, for both the game against Bath and the Middlesex Sevens, led to the RFU
Rugby Football Union
The Rugby Football Union was founded in 1871 as the governing body for the sport of rugby union, and performed as the international governing body prior to the formation of the International Rugby Board in 1886...
offering to play host to the Challenge Cup Final
Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup is a knockout cup competition for rugby league clubs organised by the Rugby Football League. Originally it was contested only by British teams but in recent years has been expanded to allow teams from France and Russia to take part....
in the event of Wembley, the event's traditional home, not being available. The RFL
Rugby Football League
The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league football in England. Based at Red Hall in Leeds, it administers the England national rugby league team, the Challenge Cup, Super League and the Rugby League Championships...
eventually took them up on this offer, with both the 2001 and 2006 finals taking place at the home of Rugby Union. Twickenham was also the venue for the opening game of the 2000 Rugby League World Cup
2000 Rugby League World Cup
The 2000 Rugby League World Cup was the twelfth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and was held during October and November of that year in Great Britain, Ireland and France...
between England
England national rugby league team
The England national rugby league team represent England in international rugby league football tournaments. The team has now seen a revival, having largely formed from the Great Britain team, who also represented Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The team is run under the auspices of the Rugby Football...
and Australia, the first time the 13-a-side game had been played there, while games during that tournament were also played at Kingsholm
Kingsholm Stadium
Kingsholm Stadium is a rugby union stadium in Gloucester, England, and is the home stadium of Gloucester Rugby. The stadium has a capacity of 16,500. It is sometimes nicknamed 'Castle Grim' after the estate where the stadium is built and also in reference to Gloucester's admirable home form...
and Stradey Park
Stradey Park
Stradey Park was a rugby union stadium located near the centre of the town of Llanelli in Carmarthenshire, Wales. It was the home of the Scarlets region and Llanelli RFC rugby teams. The stadium was a combination of seating and standing with a total capacity of 10,800...
, both bastions of club rugby union. Bradford Bulls
Bradford Bulls
Bradford Bulls is a professional rugby league club based in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. They play in the European Super League and are currently joint 10th in the league....
then followed Wigan's lead by participating in and winning the Middlesex Sevens in 2002. Similarly, rugby union has also on occasion decamped into the northern heartlands of rugby league; in 1998, England
England national rugby union team
The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Wales. They have won this championship on 26 occasions, 12 times winning the Grand Slam, making them the most successful team in...
played two qualifying games for the 1999 Rugby World Cup
1999 Rugby World Cup
The 1999 Rugby World Cup was the fourth Rugby World Cup, and the first to be held in rugby union's professional era. The principal host nation was Wales, although the majority of matches were played outside the country, shared between England, France, Scotland and Ireland...
at the Alfred McAlpine Stadium
Galpharm Stadium
The Galpharm Stadium, formerly the Alfred McAlpine Stadium, is a multi-use sports in Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England. Since 1994, it has been the home ground of Huddersfield Town and Super League side, Huddersfield Giants.-The Stadium:...
in Huddersfield
Huddersfield
Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, situated halfway between Leeds and Manchester. It lies north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city....
, which also hosted a game during the final tournament. England have also played twice at Old Trafford
Old Trafford
Old Trafford commonly refers to two sporting arenas:* Old Trafford, home of Manchester United F.C.* Old Trafford Cricket Ground, home of Lancashire County Cricket ClubOld Trafford can also refer to:...
, the traditional home of the Super League Grand Final
Super League Grand Final
The Super League Grand Final is the championship-deciding game of the Super League rugby league football competition...
. However, possibly the most notable event, certainly in England, came in 1998 when Leeds Rhinos RLFC
Leeds Rhinos
Leeds Rhinos is an English professional rugby league football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The club won the 2011 Super League and became the most successful club in the Super League era, beating St Helens 32-16 on 8th October 2011. Formed in 1890, Leeds competes in Europe's Super League...
and Leeds Tykes RUFC merged to form Leeds Rugby Limited
Leeds Rugby Limited
Leeds Rugby Limited is the 'Worlds First Dual Rugby Partnership', between the main Rugby League and Rugby Union sides in the city of Leeds, these being the Leeds Rhinos and Leeds Carnegie . Both teams play at the Headingley Carnegie Stadium)....
, described as "the world's first dual code rugby partnership". Although there are separate teams in both codes, they are owned by a common organisation with a single board.
St Helens v Sale
Since the two match series in 1996, there has only been one similar endeavour to bring together union and league. In January 2003, St Helens took on SaleSale Sharks
Sale Sharks are a professional rugby union club who play in England in the Aviva Premiership.The club is an offshoot of Sale FC, which is based at Heywood Road in Sale, Greater Manchester, but Sharks currently play in Stockport at Edgeley Park, ground sharing with Stockport County F.C.Part of the...
in a single game played at Knowsley Road
Knowsley Road
Knowsley Road was a stadium located in Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside. It was the home of St Helens RLFC from 1890 until its closure in 2010. St Helens Town FC played their home fixtures at Knowsley Road from 2002 until 2010. For a period, the venue also hosted Liverpool FC Reserves...
, intended to have one half under league rules and the other under union rules. Unlike Bath, who were to all intents and purposes still the amateur side they had been, Sale had the benefit of almost a decade of professionalism to improve both strength and fitness that was necessary for them to adapt to the constant tackling required in rugby league, as well as being able to call on the services of a number of ex-league players. Having built up a 41-0 lead under union rules, this allowed the Sharks to restrict St Helens to only 39 points under league rules.