1986–87 Rugby Football League season

The 1986–87 Rugby Football League season was the 92nd season of rugby league football. Sixteen clubs competed for the Championship which was determined by League position.

1986–87 Rugby Football League season
League	Stones Bitter Championship
1986–87 Season
Champions	Wigan
Premiership winners	Wigan
Man of Steel Award	Ellery Hanley
Top point-scorer(s)	Paul Loughlin 424
Top try-scorer(s)	Ellery Hanley 63
Promotion and relegation
Promoted from Second Division	Hunslet Swinton
Relegated to Second Division	Oldham Featherstone Rovers Barrow Wakefield Trinity
Second Division
Champions	Hunslet
Top try-scorer(s)	Derek Bate 31

Season summary

The Silk Cut Challenge Cup Winners were Halifax who beat St. Helens 19-18 in the final.

The John Player Special Trophy Winners were Wigan who beat Warrington 18-4 in the final.

The Stones Bitter Premiership Trophy Winners were Wigan who beat Warrington 8-0 in the final.

Wigan beat Oldham 27–6 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Castleford beat Hull F.C. 31–24 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.

Championship

Stones Bitter League Champions were Wigan for the tenth time in their history, losing only two league games all season - both to Warrington. Oldham, Featherstone Rovers, Barrow and Wakefield Trinity were relegated. A one-off 'two-up, four-down' promotion was used to reduce the top division to 14 clubs.

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	Pts
1	Wigan	30	28	0	2	941	193	56
2	St. Helens	30	20	1	9	835	465	41
3	Warrington	30	20	1	9	728	464	41
4	Castleford	30	20	0	10	631	429	40
5	Halifax	30	17	1	12	553	487	35
6	Hull Kingston Rovers	30	16	0	14	446	531	32
7	Bradford Northern	30	15	1	14	555	550	31
8	Widnes	30	14	0	16	598	613	28
9	Salford	30	14	0	16	509	656	28
10	Leigh	30	13	1	16	549	610	27
11	Hull	30	13	1	16	538	650	27
12	Leeds	30	13	0	17	565	571	26
13	Oldham	30	13	0	17	554	679	26
14	Featherstone Rovers	30	8	1	21	498	776	17
15	Barrow	30	7	2	21	456	725	16
16	Wakefield Trinity	30	4	1	25	386	943	9

Champions

Play-offs

Relegated

Second Division

A complicated fixture formula was introduced in the Second Division and continued until the 1991–92 season.[1] 2nd Division Champions were Hunslet, and Swinton were also promoted.

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	Pts
1	Hunslet	28	25	0	3	722	218	50
2	Swinton	28	23	1	4	713	323	47
3	Whitehaven	28	21	1	6	577	304	43
4	Doncaster	28	20	1	7	586	388	41
5	Rochdale Hornets	28	19	1	8	519	369	39
6	Sheffield Eagles	28	17	0	11	625	426	34
7	Bramley	28	16	0	12	407	440	32
8	Carlisle	28	15	1	12	463	446	31
9	Blackpool Borough	28	14	0	14	530	477	28
10	York	28	11	0	17	492	537	22
11	Runcorn Highfield	28	10	1	17	391	533	21
12	Fulham	28	8	2	18	461	632	18
13	Batley	28	9	0	19	335	528	18
14	Workington Town	28	9	0	19	405	652	18
15	Huddersfield Barracudas	28	8	0	20	456	673	16
16	Mansfield Marksman	28	8	0	20	366	592	16
17	Dewsbury	28	8	0	20	328	563	16
18	Keighley	28	7	0	21	366	641	14

Champions

Play-offs

Promoted

Relegated

Challenge Cup

Wigan’s 10-8 defeat to Oldham in Round One this season, would be their last Challenge Cup defeat until February 1996.

Halifax and St Helens reached the final with 'Fax coming out victorious with a 19-18 win at Wembley before a crowd of 91,267.[2] A desperate tackle by Halifax's John Pendlebury was seen as instrumental in giving his side the victory,[3] which was their fifth in twelve Final appearances.

Halifax's Australian fullback, Graham Eadie, won the Lance Todd Trophy.

League Cup

Premiership

Kangaroo Tour

The months of October and November also saw the appearance of the Australian team in England on their 1986 Kangaroo Tour. Other than the three test Ashes series against Great Britain (won 3–0 by Australia), The Kangaroos played and won matches against 9 Championship teams (Wigan, Hull KR, Leeds, Halifax, St Helens, Oldham, Widnes, Hull, and Bradford Northern) and one county side (Cumbria).

The 1986 Kangaroos were coached by Don Furner who had toured as a player in 1956–57 while the team captain was Wally Lewis who had been the vice-captain of the 1982 Kangaroos.

Dual-rugby international Michael O'Connor of the St George Dragons was the leading point scorer on the tour with 170 from 13 tries and 59 goals. Canterbury-Bankstown stand-off / loose forward Terry Lamb was the leading try scorer with 19, including scoring 5 against Hull Kingston Rovers at Craven Park on 15 October. Lamb also became the first player to appear in every match of a Kangaroo Tour.

The 1986 Kangaroos became known as The Unbeatables after their second successive unbeaten Kangaroo Tour.

game	Date	Result	Venue	Attendance
1	12 October	Australia def. Wigan 26–18	Central Park, Wigan	30,622
2	15 October	Australia def. Hull Kingston Rovers 46–10	Craven Park, Hull	6,868
3	19 October	Australia def. Leeds 40–0	Headingley, Leeds	11,389
4	21 October	Australia def. Cumbria 48–12	Craven Park, Barrow-in-Furness	4,233
5	25 October	Australia def.  Great Britain 38–16	Old Trafford, Manchester	50,583
6	29 October	Australia def. Halifax 36–2	Thrum Hall, Halifax	7,193
7	2 November	Australia def. St. Helens 32–8	Knowsley Road, St Helens	15,381
8	4 November	Australia def. Oldham 22–16	The Watersheddings, Oldham	5,678
9	8 November	Australia def.  Great Britain 34–4	Elland Road, Leeds	30,808
10	12 November	Australia def. Widnes 20–4	Naughton Park, Widnes	10,268
11	16 November	Australia def. Hull F.C. 13–7	The Boulevard, Hull	8,231
12	18 November	Australia def. Bradford Northern 38–0	Odsal Stadium, Bradford	10,633
13	20 November	Australia def.  Great Britain 24–15	Central Park, Wigan	20,169

References

1. "1986-87 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-09-26. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
2. Raymond Fletcher; David Howes (1995). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1995-1996. London: Headline Book Publishing. p. 191. ISBN 0-7472-7817-2.
3. news.bbc.co.uk (27 February 2004). "Cup heroes: John Pendlebury". BBC News. UK: BBC. Retrieved 6 March 2011.

Sources

• 1986-87 Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.com