Duration 30 Rounds Number of teams 16 | ||
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The 1994–95 Rugby Football League season was the 100th ever season of professional rugby league football in Britain. Sixteen teams competed from August 1994 until May 1995 for a number of titles, primarily the Stones Bitter Championship.
Contents
Season summary
The summer Super League concept was agreed to commence in 1996.
The record for most points scored by one team in a match was broken by Huddersfield when they clocked up 142 against Blackpool Gladiators' 4 in a Regal Trophy match on 26 November 1994. This is also the record for widest margin.
The 1995 Man of Steel Award for the player of the season went to Wigan's Denis Betts. Wigan also set a new record for most points in all matches in one season with 1,735 from 45 matches as follows:
Rule changes
The following rule changes were introduced this season by the referees' coaching director, Greg McCallum:
Leeds' Gary Mercer (dangerous throw), Sheffield Eagles' Paul Broadbent and Doncaster's Gordon Lynch (tripping) became the first players cited under the reporting system to be found to have a case to answer.
Championship
In preparation for the change to summer matches for the Super League, the position teams finished in this season was critical, as it determined which of the new fore-shortened three divisions they would play next season. The team finishing bottom would be relegated to the Second Division and teams finishing 11th to 15th would make up the new First Division.
Second Division
The teams finishing in the top 7 went on to form the new First Division with teams from the Championship. London Broncos were fast tracked into the Championship as they were to be part of the new Super League in 1996.
Challenge Cup
Rounds One and Two were contested between amateur clubs only. Millom were the biggest winners in Round One when they defeated Northampton Knights by 62-4. The biggest win in Round Two was Wigan St Patricks who defeated Crown Malet 42-6.
Round Three saw teams from Division Two matched at home against an amateur opponent. There was one shock result, when Beverley beat Highfield by 27-4. Dewsbury recorded the most points in Round Three when they defeated Kells by 72-12, though the biggest margin of victory went to Keighley who beat Chorley 68-0.
In Round Four, the Division One sides entered the competition with no seeding. There were two shock results when Huddersfield defeated Halifax 36-30 and Whitehaven beat Wakefield Trinity by 24-12. Hunslet drew with Salford 32-32 to take them to a replay before going down by 52-10.
Final
The 1995 Silk Cut Challenge Cup Final was a replay of the previous season's final between Wigan and Leeds. The match was played at 2:30pm on the dry Saturday afternoon of 29 April 1995 at London's Wembley Stadium. This was the first Wembley Challenge Cup Final to use in-goal judges.
Kangaroos Tour of Great Britain & France
In October, November and December 1994 the Australian National team, known as the Kangaroos, toured Great Britain and France playing three Tests against Great Britain, one against Wales, one against France, eight club games and five other representative matches. The Kangaroos were coached by Bob Fulton, assisted by Brian Hollis, Dave Ryan and Frank Ponnisi. Andrew Ettinghausen, of Cronulla, was the leading points and try scorer on tour with 60 points from 15 tries.
Statistics
The following are the top points scorers in all competitions in the 1994–95 season.