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1970–71 Northern Rugby Football League season

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The 1970–71 Rugby Football League season was the 76th season of rugby league football.

1970–71 Rugby Football League season
LeagueNorthern Rugby Football League
Champions St. Helens
League Leaders Wigan
Top point-scorer(s) Kel Coslett 395
Top try-scorer(s) Bob Haigh 40
Les Jones 40

Season summary

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Sunday afternoon rugby was allowed for the first time by the RFL on 17 December 1967. Initially most clubs chose not to switch away from Saturday's despite competition from football. The first ever Sunday fixtures were Bradford Northern v York, and Leigh v Dewsbury.[1]

St. Helens won their sixth Championship when they beat Wigan 16–12 in the Championship Final. Wigan had ended the regular season as the league leaders.

The Challenge Cup Winners were Leigh when they beat Leeds 24–7 in the final.[2]

There was no county league competition this season, other than a break between the 1902–03 and 1906–07 seasons, and breaks for World War I and World War II, this was the first season in which the Lancashire League and Yorkshire League titles were no longer awarded.

Championship

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Team Pld W D L Pts
1 Wigan 34 30 0 4 60
2 St. Helens 34 29 0 5 58
3 Leeds 34 28 0 6 56
4 Leigh 34 26 0 8 52
5 Wakefield Trinity 34 24 1 9 49
6 Keighley 34 21 0 13 42
7 Salford 34 20 1 13 41
8 Hull 34 20 1 13 41
9 Workington Town 34 20 1 13 41
10 Halifax 34 20 0 14 40
11 Dewsbury 34 17 3 14 37
12 Castleford 34 18 0 16 36
13 Hull Kingston Rovers 34 18 0 16 36
14 Batley 34 16 2 16 34
15 Huddersfield 34 16 2 16 34
16 Oldham 34 12 7 15 31
17 Bramley 34 15 1 18 31
18 Widnes 34 14 2 18 30
19 York 34 14 1 19 29
20 Featherstone Rovers 34 14 1 19 29
21 Barrow 34 14 0 20 28
22 Warrington 34 13 2 19 28
23 Swinton 34 13 0 21 26
24 Huyton 34 11 2 21 24
25 Rochdale Hornets 34 9 3 22 21
26 Blackpool Borough 34 10 1 23 21
27 Bradford Northern 34 8 2 24 18
28 Doncaster 34 7 3 24 17
29 Whitehaven 34 8 1 25 17
30 Hunslet 34 6 1 27 13
Champions Play-offs

Play-offs

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Round 1:

Hull 14 beat Workington Town 3.

Dewsbury 20 beat Keighley 7.

Leeds 28 beat Batley 0.

Leigh 10 beat Hull Kingston Rovers 5.

Salford 33 beat Halifax 3.

St Helens 28 beat Huddersfield 5.

Wakefield Trinity 10 beat Castleford 4.

Wigan 12 beat Oldham 7.

Round 2:

Leeds 37 beat Salford 22.

Wakefield Trinity 8 beat Leigh 5.

St Helens 30 beat Hull 5.

Wigan 36 beat Dewsbury 12.

Semi-finals:

St Helens 22 beat Leeds 7.

Wigan 49 beat Wakefield Trinity 15.

Final

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22 May 1971
St Helens 16 – 12 Wigan
Tries: Benyon, Blackwood
Goals: Coslett (5)
 Tries: Ashurst, Robinson
Goals: Ashurst (2), Tyrer
Station Road, Swinton
Attendance: 21,745
Referee: E. Lawrinson (Warrington)
Player of the Match: Bill Ashurst

Challenge Cup

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Main article: 1970–71 Challenge Cup

Leigh beat Leeds 24–7 in the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday 15 May 1971, in front of a crowd of 85,514.

This was Leigh's second Cup final win in two final appearances. To date it was also their last appearance in a Challenge Cup final.[3]

In the final, Lance Todd Trophy winner, Leigh's captain-coach, Alex Murphy,[4] was stretchered off after a clash with Leeds player, Syd Hynes. For his part in the "clash", Hynes was sent off.[5]

County cups

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Main article: 1970–71 Lancashire Cup
Main article: 1970–71 Yorkshire Cup

Leigh beat St. Helens 7–4 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Leeds beat Featherstone Rovers 23–7 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.

References

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  1. ^ John Hesman - NAK Corporate World. "Sunday Rugby". Archived from the original on 2009-04-25. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
  2. ^ "1970-71 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-08-26. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
  3. ^ "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 2009-04-03. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  4. ^ news.bbc.co.uk (27 February 2004). "Cup heroes: Alex Murphy". BBC Sport. UK: BBC. Retrieved 2010-02-10.
  5. ^ "Cup Final Sending Off". Archived from the original on 2009-10-04. Retrieved 2009-08-07.

Sources

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