Our time machine travels back to February 2005, when Leeds Rhinos took on Canterbury Bulldogs at Elland Road in the World Club Challenge.
AWINTER night, a summer shirt and a spring in the step of British rugby league following the disappointment of the previous autumn’s Tri-Nations final.
It’s 20 years since Leeds Rhinos clinched the first of their three World Club Challenge triumphs, Tony Smith’s recently-crowned Super League champions muzzling Canterbury Bulldogs, their NRL counterparts, to warm fans up on a chilly Yorkshire evening.
The date was Friday, 4th February 2005, the location Elland Road, with the interest in the game meriting a switch from Headingley to the larger stadium south of the River Aire.
It was the second time in ten weeks ground staff at the home of football club Leeds United had swapped the posts after 39,120 turned out to see Wayne Bennett’s Australia brush aside Brian Noble’s Lions.
Home hopes were high for that contest when Great Britain topped the initial Tri-Nations table after winning both clashes with New Zealand and chalking up a 24-12 win in their second meeting with the Kangaroos, who had earlier been held to a draw by the Kiwis.
But when it came the the crunch, the Aussies were simply too strong. They led 38-0 at half-time and ended up 44-4 victors.
Noble had caused controversy by omitting Kevin Sinfield from his 25-man squad for the tournament.
That was soon after his Bradford Bulls side had been beaten by Sinfield-skippered Leeds in the Super League Grand Final, with the then 24-year-old shining at stand-off in the 16-8 Old Trafford win which clinched his club’s first league title since 1971-72.
Four Rhinos did make the Lions party, however hooker Matt Diskin sustained a knee injury in the 26-24 triumph over New Zealand at Hull (which kept him out of the World Club Challenge), and only centre Keith Senior was in the starting side for the Tri-Nations decider.
With Bradford’s Iestyn Harris getting the nod to play alongside Sean Long in the halves, Danny McGuire had to make do with a place on the bench alongside his clubmate, prop Ryan Bailey.
Noble’s selection was questioned by Senior in the build-up to the World Club Challenge.
“I honestly believe Danny should have started,” he said, accepting the need for Leeds to restore some collective pride to the British game.
“You’re only as good as your last game, and mine was the Tri-Nations final,” he added.
“I know it upset a few people because hopes were so high, but it was just one of those nights.
“For the first 20 minutes that was the best rugby league I’ve ever seen from an Australia side.
“We underperformed, but even if we’d played superbly, we would still have struggled to hold them.
“For the profile of the game, it’s massive that Leeds do well against the Bulldogs – and winning the World Club Challenge is something we want for ourselves, as players.”
Canterbury flew in having beaten Sydney Roosters 16-13 in the NRL Grand Final to cement a first championship since 1995.
They had a number of players out through injury, including forwards Mark O’Meley, Willie Mason and Andrew Ryan.
But centre Wille Tonga, who like those three had featured in the Tri-Nations final, did have another Elland Road run-out, while there was a starting spot for emerging Kiwi secondrow Sonny Bill Williams.
Coach Steve Folkes caught the eye by conducting his pre-match interviews and team talk wearing a colourful Hawaiian shirt.
The Rhinos lined up with Richie Mathers, Mark Calderwood, Chev Walker, Senior, Marcus Bai, Sinfield and McGuire in the backs and a pack of Bailey, Andrew Dunemann, Danny Ward, Jamie Jones-Buchanan, Chris McKenna and Gareth Ellis, who was on debut following his move from Wakefield Trinity.
On the bench alongside Ali Lauitiiti, Barrie McDermott and Willie Poching was the 22-year-old Rob Burrow, meaning nine of the 17 on duty had come through Leeds’ development system.
The attendance of 37,028 remains the highest for a World Club Challenge on British soil.
And they witnessed the Rhinos take a 12-0 lead inside 10 minutes, with McGuire passing behind two decoy runners to send Walker over on the left, and Calderwood punishing an error by fullback Luke Patten to touch down a kick through by Sinfield, who converted both tries (his overall return was five from seven).
Canterbury pulled back points with a slick finish by Lebanese winger Hazem El Masri, who then goaled.
McDermott bumped off several defenders to lay the platform for a McGuire special, and further slick scores came before half-time from Poching and Burrow, as Leeds led 26-6.
Canterbury countered with a try for Patten, which was converted, but by the 55th minute, Leeds were 38-12 ahead with the help of tries by Mathers, from McGuire’s perfect grubber kick, and Jones-Buchanan.
Cue a Canterbury blitz of four tries in 15 minutes – by El ‘Magic’ Masri, future Huddersfield centre Jamaal Lolesi, captain and ex-Gateshead Thunder and Hull back row Tony Grimaldi and Lolesi again – and with two of them goaled, there were only six points in it with eight minutes still to go and supporters looking anxiously at the clock.
Nerves were finally settled when Sinfield slotted a 78th-minute field-goal for a 39-32 victory, making the Rhinos the fourth English winners of the competition since it was reintroduced in 2000, after St Helens and Bradford (twice, both under Noble).
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 505 (February 2025)