Over time, we'll look at the key moments, players and people who shaped the sport during the decade in which the game changed forever.
The 1990s were times of great change on both sides of the Rugby divide. As T-shirts and shorts replaced woolly hats and scarves as terrace attire when League became a summer sport, Rugby Union made it's biggest change in over 100 years and became a professional sport for the first time in 1995. This now promoted a freedom of movement as players were now allowed to transfer between the codes without recrimination. This allowed doors to be opened and for the first time ever, the two codes were able to sort out their battle for supremacy out on the field.
Captains Andrew Farrell and Philip de Glanville lead out their respective Wigan and Bath teams ahead of the second Clash Of The Codes fixture at Twickenham in 1996.
The two-match 'Clash Of The Codes' series was announced in January 1996 with dates set of May 8th for the fixture played under League rules and the two teams clashing in the 15-man code on May 25th. Both matches were televised live by Sky, the league game was played at Manchester City FC's then home, Maine Road while English Rugby's headquarters of Twickenham hosted the match played under Union rules.
The two teams who did battle in the series were Wigan and Bath.
Wigan were British RL's perennial champion side, they had systematically laid waste to the best that the other clubs had to offer by winning the Challenge Cup every year between 1988 and 1995 as well as adding the Championship title to their Wembley triumphs every year since 1990. The Central Park outfit were well on the way to winning the final Championship of RL's winter era and were also the reigning champions of the world having upset the odds to defeat the mighty Brisbane Broncos in their own ANZ Stadium backyard in 1994.
Since the establishment of Rugby Union's league competition in 1987, Bath had topped the table on six occasions including an impressive spell of four titles in a row between 1991 and 1994. The Bath club, based at The Rec, had also won the Pilkington Cup (Union's equivalent of the Challenge Cup) on ten occasions, including the 1996 final which was played just four days before the first fixture against Wigan.
Despite the initial lukewarm reaction to the series' announcement from both governing bodies, the two teams began to take preparations for the clash seriously, Bath included Rugby League practice in their training sessions while Wigan even went to the extent of buying a scrum machine to aid their preparations. One prominent naysayer of the event was Bath and England centre (and second best ever presenter of Gladiators) Jeremy Guscott who described it as a 'pointless exercise' and pulled out of playing in both fixtures although he would later attend the Twickenham leg of the series as a television pundit.
A day after Bath had beaten Leicester at Twickenham in the cup final, the worse for wear squad engaged in their only training session against a Rugby League club in a hastily arranged scrimmage with Clive Griffiths' South Wales side. By contrast, Wigan warmed up for the first leg by hammering Paris St. Germain 76-8 at Central Park.
The scene was set, just over 20,000 people took their places at Maine Road to witness history being made and after over 100 years the age old pub question of 'League or Union?' was a step closer to being answered.
The game started badly for Bath when Jon Callard's kick failed to clear the regulation ten metres and then proceeded to get drastically worse. It took Wigan just three minutes to break the deadlock when Martin Offiah crossed the whitewash for the first of his six tries of the evening. Bath struggled to cope with playing under League rules and took fifteen minutes to even complete a set of tackles, which allowed Wigan to amass a huge 52-0 half time lead.
The Union side grew into the game in the second half and Callard was able to atone for his earlier error and notch Bath's solitary try which he subsequently converted. Any hopes of an unlikely comeback were dashed however as Wigan ran in a further six tries to contribute to an eventual final score of 82-6.
Craig Murdock of Wigan notched one of Wigan's fifteen tries in their 82-6 win over Bath in the Rugby League leg of the 1996 'Clash Of The Codes'.
In the time between the two fixtures, Wigan went on to make history by becoming the first Rugby League team to be invited to play in the traditional Middlesex Sevens competition at Twickenham four days after the first leg of the event.
Any thoughts of Wigan simply making up the numbers at the tournament were quickly cast aside when they put the famous Richmond club to the sword, running in nine tries in a spectacular 48-5 hammering of the London side, former Rosslyn Park man Martin Offiah showed Union what they potentially had been missing by opening the scoring with a long-range try which capped Wigan's recovery after the League side struggled with contested scrums and lost possession of the football before Henry Paul recovered it to set Offiah free.
Kiwi half-back Paul was arguably Wigan's standout player in their quarter-final clash with Harlequins as he almost single-handedly led his side's comeback after going behind to two early tries by grabbing a brace of his own to add to the customary Offish score. The only sour note came as Paul and Offiah succumbed to injuries which threatened their respective participation in Wigan's subsequent Super League fixtures.
By the time Wigan lined up against Leicester in the semi-final, the amassed crowd at Twickenham had swelled to almost capacity as the Union supporters became captivated by the talent and ability of the League side. Andy Farrell took the mantle of playmaker in Henry Paul's absence by racking up a personal haul of 20 points including two tries to add to a brace from Rob Smyth and an Inga Tuigimala score which saw Leicester beaten 35-12.
A final tie against Wasps was Wigan's reward (the North London side had beaten Wigan's neighbours Orrell in their respective semi-final). Offiah recovered from his earlier injury and his return gave his team the impetus to produce a splendid display as they ran in six tries to record a famous 38-15 victory and write the Wigan club's name in the history books.
Wigan's players celebrate their Middlesex Sevens tournament win.
Wigan returned to Twickenham on May 25th for the return leg of the Clash Of The Codes played under Union rules. By contrast to Bath's preparation for the League match, Wigan held regular training matches against Orrell to add to their Sevens experience and also hammered Halifax and Workington in the Super League for good measure.
Plenty of talk in the build-up to the Union fixture surrounded the fact that many people had Wigan down as favourites to win the game given their demolition job in the first leg and their stellar performance at the Sevens event. The debate raged on in the Sky television studio as Mike Stephenson and former England international Stuart Barnes fought their respective code's corner and predicted comprehensive wins for either side.
The game got underway with Callard again kicking off and Wigan's scrummaging inexperience led to the awarding of a penalty try to open the scoring after a collapsing scrum. The first half went on to follow the pattern of the first leg with the Union side opening up a large lead over Wigan with wingers Adedayo Adebayo (2) and Jon Sleightholme crossing to give Bath a 25-0 advantage at half-time. Just as it had taken Bath 15 minutes to complete a set of six in the League fixture, Wigan were unable to get the ball into the opposition half of the field until the midway point of the first half.
It was rare anyone during the 1990s could match Jason Robinson for pace but in the Union leg of the Clash Of The Codes Bath winger Jon Sleightholme left 'Billy Whizz' in his wake.
As the second half progressed, thoughts turned to how much Bath could win by as Mike Catt and newly-annointed England captain Phil de Glanville added further scores. Wigan had a secret weapon up their sleeves that aided their comeback cause, professionalism.
It's vital to remember that Wigan had been a full-time professional outfit since the 1980s while it had only been a matter of months since Bath made the switch to full-time, this allowed Wigan's superior fitness and agility to prevail as Craig Murdock grabbed two tries in addition to a score from Inga Tuigimala. Bath scrum-half Ian Sanders scored his side's sixth try (discounting the penalty try) of the afternoon to extinguish any hopes of an unlikely Wigan victory. Despite losing the fixture, Wigan could take some solace in matching the Union side in the scoring during the second half as well as maintaining a lower margin of defeat in the second leg.
The event went a long way to start breaking down the barriers between the two codes. At the end of the 1996 season Jason Robinson's agreement with the ARL prevented him from taking part in the infamous 'Tour From Hell' so he joined Henry Paul in signing for Bath on loan while Scott Quinnell crossed back to Rugby Union as well as Inga Tuigimala who joined Newcastle for a world record fee. Twickenham even hosted Rugby League matches in the absence of Wembley Stadium with the curtain raiser to the 2000 World Cup taking place at Union's HQ.
Bradford Bulls went on to emulate Wigan's success by winning the Middlesex Sevens in 2002 just hours after losing to St. Helens in Super League and Saints partook in the last (to date) match between sides from either code, playing 40 minutes under each set of rules and coming up just short losing 41-39 to Sale (who by now had a full-time Union player in Jason Robinson amongst their ranks) at Knowsley Road.
Leon Pryce and Robbie Hunter-Paul of Bradford hold aloft the trophy after they replicated Wigan's Middlesex Sevens win in 2002.
Clash Of The Codes Match One: Wigan 82-6 Bath. May 8th 1996
Venue: Maine Road, Manchester
Referee: Russell Smith
Wigan tries: Martin Offiah (6), Jason Robinson (2), Terry O'Connor (2), Andy Johnson (2), Henry Paul, Mick Cassidy, Scott Quinnell, Craig Murdock.
Wigan goals: Martin Hall (4), Andrew Farrell (5)
Bath try: Jon Callard
Bath goal: Jon Callard (1)
Clash Of The Codes Match Two: Bath 44-19 Wigan
Venue: Twickenham, London
Referee: Brian Campsall
Bath tries: Adedayo Adebayo (2), Jon Sleightholme, Mike Catt, Phil de Glanville, Ian Sanders, penalty.
Bath goals: Jon Callard (3)
Wigan tries: Craig Murdock (2), Va'iaga Tuigimala.
Wigan goals: Andrew Farrell (2)
That brings to a close our look back at the historic meeting between the two powerhouses of either code of Rugby. I hope you enjoyed the piece and I look forward to providing further nostalgia here on The BIG League.
Please feel free to follow me on Twitter too @BarkerGray2.
Until next time, take care.
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