2000 World Club Challenge

The 2000 World Club Challenge was contested by 1999 NRL season premiers, the Melbourne Storm and 1999's Super League IV champions, St. Helens. The match was played on 22 January at JJB Stadium, Wigan before a crowd of 13,394. The Melbourne Storm defeated St Helens 44 - 6.[1] This was the first World Club Challenge since 1997 and the Super League war.

2000 World Club Challenge
St. Helens Melbourne Storm (SL) (NRL) 6 44
1 2 Total ST H 2 4 6 MEL 20 24 44
Date	22 January 2000
Stadium	JJB Stadium
Location	Wigan, England
Brett Kimmorley
Referees	Stuart Cummings
Attendance	13,394
Broadcast partners
Broadcasters	Sky Sports
Commentators	Eddie Hemmings Mike Stephenson

Background

St Helens

The 1999 Super League Grand Final was the conclusive and championship-deciding game of the Super League IV season. The match was played between English clubs St. Helens and Bradford Bulls on Saturday 9 October 1999, at Old Trafford, Manchester, UK.

Melbourne Storm

The 1999 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 1999 NRL season. It was contested by the competition's two newest clubs: the Melbourne Storm, competing in only its second year (having finished the regular season in 3rd place); and the St. George Illawarra Dragons, in their first year as a joint-venture club (having finished the regular season in 6th place), after both sides eliminated the rest of the top eight during the finals.

A new rugby league world record crowd of 107,999 was at Stadium Australia for the game. The attendance, which saw 67,142 more people attend than had done so for the 1998 NRL Grand Final at the Sydney Football Stadium, broke the record attendance for a Grand Final, eclipsing the previous record of 78,065 set in 1965. After trailing 0-14 at half time, the Melbourne Storm defeated the St. George Illawarra Dragons 20-18.[2]

Venue

With the game set to be played in England, the Rugby Football League chose Wigan's home venue, the JJB Stadium which could hold 25,333, as the host venue in preference to St Helens' home ground of Knowsley Road which could only hold 17,500.

Teams

St Helens

Melbourne Storm

FB 1 Paul Atcheson LW 2 Chris Smith RC 3 Paul Newlove LC 4 Kevin Iro RW 5 Sean Hoppe SO 6 Tommy Martyn SH 7 Sean Long (c) PR 8 Julian O'Neill HK 9 Paul Wellens PR 10 Sonny Nickle SR 11 Chris Joynt SR 12 Bryan Henare LF 13 Paul Sculthorpe Substitutions: IC 14 Apollo Perelini IC 15 Fereti Tuilagi IC 16 Anthony Stewart IC 17 John Stankevitch Coach: Ian Millward

FB 1 Robbie Ross RW 2 Brad Watts RC 3 Aaron Moule LC 4 Tony Martin LW 5 Marcus Bai FE 6 Scott Hill HB 7 Brett Kimmorley PR 8 Wayne Evans HK 9 Richard Swain PR 10 Robbie Kearns (c) SR 11 Paul Marquet SR 12 Stephen Kearney LK 13 Matt Rua Substitutions: IC 14 Danny Williams IC 15 Russell Bawden IC 16 Tasesa Lavea IC 17 Dane Morgan Coach: Chris Anderson

Match details

22 January 2000 18:00 UTC+0

St. Helens	6 – 44	Melbourne Storm
Tries: Sean Hoppe Goals: Sean Long (1)	(Report)	Tries: Robbie Ross (2) Scott Hill (2) Aaron Moule Marcus Bai Wayne Evans Dane Morgan Goals: Brad Watts (5) Tasesa Lavea (1)

JJB Stadium, Wigan Attendance: 13,394 Referee: Stuart Cummings Man of the Match: Brett Kimmorley

References

1. "Storm warning on World Club Challenge". Brisbane Times. 21 February 2008. Retrieved 19 March 2010.
2. "1999 NRL Grand Final". rugbyleagueproject.org. Shawn Dollin, Andrew Ferguson and Bill Bates. Retrieved 15 June 2016.