Wigan the first Grand Final winners (1998)
Super League adopted a play-off system ahead of its third season with the league’s top five clubs all in with a chance of claiming Grand Final glory. In the end, it was left to league leaders Wigan Warriors and runners-up Leeds Rhinos to battle it out on the Old Trafford turf to determine the competition’s first Grand Final winners.
Played in front of just under 55,000 spectators, Wigan edged Leeds 10-4 in a tight game with Jason Robinson scoring a magical try for the Warriors which secured him the Harry Sunderland Trophy. That score cancelled out Richie Blackmore’s opening effort for the Rhinos, but six points from the boot of Andy Farrell would prove decisive.
This final set the blueprint for future matches of its kind and has proven to be a hugely successful element of Super League with crowds and TV audiences increasing drastically since this fixture more than 20 years ago.
