My favourite match - Leeds Rhinos great Garry Schofield recalls a famous win over Wigan

He joined the Loiners in 1987 when the glory days of the 1960s and 70s were a fading memory and left in 1996, before Leeds developed into Super League’s most successful side.

Wigan were the dominant team throughout Schofield’s spell with his hometown team and the Headingley outfit could never quite close the gap, though there were occasional memorable moments.

Schofield has selected one of those, a JPS Trophy semi-final against Wigan at Bolton’s Burnden Park on December 12, 1987, as his favourite match.

Looking back 33 years, Schofield said: “We were both big clubs, we had two record signings in myself and Lee Crooks and Wigan were the best side going, full of big names.

“It was a game we were hoping would prove Leeds were back in business, not just with the signings they’d made, but also challenging for trophies.”

Leeds had escaped relegation on points difference the previous season, prompting the board to splash out big cash to Hull for Schofield and Crooks.

The semi-final was Leeds’ 17th game of the season and they went into it on a five-match winning run and with a record in all competitions of 11 wins, four defeats and two draws, including one against Wigan.

Wigan led 6-0 through a David Stephenson goal and Steve Hampson try, but Paul Medley’s touchdown - converted by Colin Maskill - levelled the scores and Ray Ashton edged Leeds ahead with a one-pointer.

On the hour Schofield gave Leeds some breathing space with what he described as “one of the best tries I scored for Leeds”.

He recalled: “I took a short ball off Masky {Maskill]. What I was doing around the ruck area I don’t know, because I was a right-centre. I side-stepped around Steve Hampo [Hampson], the Great Britain full-back, as though he wasn’t there.

“It was a special moment for me because I had been brought to Leeds to score tries and get them to finals. I had a big influence as well when I went across the field and dropped it off to Slippery [Steve] Morris and he gave it to Masky. I was glad I contributed.”

Maskill’s try and goal completed a shock 19-6 success, but Schofield remembers the tie as much for being a classic game of rugby league.

“I had a tussle with Kevin Iro and I think it’s one when I got the better of him,” he recalled.

“There were so many match-ups and so much quality on the field. Not many teams beat Wigan in those days, they went into that semi-final as favourites and rightly so. They were the dominant force.

“If you go through the individual match-ups, they were worth the admission money alone. The crowd at Burnden Park was sensational, a great atmosphere and it was just a proper semi-final and a proper game of rugby league.”

Schofield described the pack battle as “sheer brutality”. He added: “Creativity-wise, our stand-off Peter Jackson - bless his soul - had his best game or us and I think all the Aussies who played for us that day - Peter Tunks, Marty Gurr and Slippery Morris as well - all had their best games.

“We lost our best forward, Lee Crooks, after four minutes with a shocking shoulder injury. He got replaced by Paul Medley who proved on the day what a super-sub he was.

“I can’t remember who got man of the match, but I thought it was the best performance in Leeds colours - when I played with him, anyway - from Colin Maskill. He was absolutely outstanding and from one to 15 everyone did their own job.”

Sadly for Leeds, they were beaten 15-14 by St Helens in the final at Wigan’s Central Park, despite a brilliant performance from forward Roy Powell.

Schofield insisted: “If the video ref had been used in those days, they wouldn’t have won it - because Paul Loughlin’s try was a double-movement!”

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