England versus Wales is one of the great rivalries in world sport.

Dudley Wood, formerly secretary of the Rugby Football Union, summed things up perfectly. “The relationship between the English and the Welsh is based on trust and understanding. They don’t trust us, and we don’t understand them”.

Whatever the sport, there is something extra special about meetings with our near neighbours.

Wales and England first faced each other in a Rugby League international on 20 April 1908, at Athletic Park, Tonypandy. Wales were victorious that day winning 35-8 in front of a 12,000 crowd.

The Steroephonics hit the nail on the head with their 1999 composition “As long as we beat the English we don’t care”.

The bragging rights of a victory against the old enemy cannot be underestimated, especially if you happen to be Welsh and living in England.

Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United is one of the great English sporting arenas but it is no stranger to the occasional Welshman.

The legendary football club has been graced by many wonderful Welshmen, although usually with a different shaped ball.

Mark Hughes, Mickey Thomas, Ron and Wyn Davies, and more recently Tom Lawrence, have all been feted by the Stretford End.

Watching Ryan Giggs sprinting up and down the left wing was the norm in these parts, however on this particular Saturday it was the turn of another Welsh speedster, Anthony Sullivan. the St Helens flying machine, was an equally glorious sight to behold when in full flight.

Incidently Ryan’s father, Danny Wilson, played 4 times for Wales rugby league team between 1981 and 1984. Danny was a stand off who played for Widnes, Barrow, Swinton, Springfield Borough and Runcorn after moving up north from Cardiff.

Old Trafford is no stranger to rugby It has played host to both codes of rugby football, although league is played there with greater regularity than union. The Super League grand final has been played at Old Trafford every year since the introduction of the playoff system in 1998, and is set to continue to do so until 2020, the first rugby league match to be played at Old Trafford was held during the 1924–25 season, when a Lancashire representative side hosted the New Zealand national team, with Manchester United receiving 20 per cent of the gate receipts.

The first league match to be held at Old Trafford came in November 1958, with Salford playing against Leeds under floodlights in front of 8,000 spectators.

The first rugby league Test match played at Old Trafford came in 1986, when Australia beat Great Britain 38–16 in front of 50,583 spectators in the first test of the 1986 Kangaroo tour.

The 1989 World Club Challenge was played at Old Trafford on 4 October 1989, with 30,768 spectators watching Widnes beat the Canberra Raiders 30–18.

Old Trafford also hosted the second Great Britain vs Australia Ashes tests on both the 1990 and 1994Kangaroo Tours. The stadium also hosted the semi-final between England and Wales at the 1995 Rugby League World Cup; England won 25–10 in front of 30,042 fans. The final rugby league international played at Old Trafford in the 1990s saw Great Britain record their only win over Australia at the ground in 1997 in the second test of the Super League Test series in front of 40,324 fans.

When the Rugby League World Cup was hosted by Great Britain, Ireland and France in 2000, Old Trafford was chosen as the venue for the final; the match was contested by Australia and New Zealand, and resulted in a 40–12 win for Australia, watched by 44,329 spectators.

Old Trafford was also chosen to host the 2013 Rugby League World Cup Final.

The game, played on 30 November, was won by Australia 34–2 over defending champions New Zealand, and attracted a crowd of 74,468, a world record for a rugby league international.

During the game, Australia winger Brett Morris suffered a heavy crash into the advertising boards at the Stretford End, emphasising questions raised pre-match over the safety of Old Trafford as a rugby league venue, in particular the short in-goal areas and the slope around the perimeter.

Old Trafford hosted its first rugby union international in 1997, when New Zealand defeated England 25–8. A second match was played at Old Trafford on 6 June 2009, when England beat Argentina 37–15 The stadium was one of 12 confirmed venues set to host matches of the 2015 Rugby World Cup; however, in April 2013 United pulled out of the contract over concerns about pitch quality and not wanting to compromise their relationship with the 13-man code.

Instead of travelling up to Manchester for week leading up to the 1995 Rugby League World Cup semi final, the Welsh boys were having so much fun they decided to stay in Cardiff.

With only a five day turnaround following the brutal match with Western Samoa Wales were already at a distinct disadvantage.

England their opponents had an extra rest day following a much less demanding pool match against South Africa who they beat convincingly 46-0 in Leeds.

The one thing Wales and Manchester have in common is rain, and in plentiful quantities but on this particular day the rain gods took a day off, maybe they were in front of the television watching an eagerly awaited match, as the day broke to blue skies and brilliant sunshine

A sea of red was already making its way the 200 miles or so from South Wales. From early morning the Sandbach motorway services were laden with pasty clutching Welsh fans heading back to their cars and buses before heading off to Old Trafford. An estimated

William Blake’s poem Jerusalem refers to the north of England and the industrial revolution and I’m not sure if those immortal lyrics “dark satanic mills” refer to Big Jim but I wouldn’t be at all surprised.

Wales made just one change from the team that defeated Western Samoa in Swansea. centre Scott Gibbs recovered from a knee injury, so John Devereux switched to the wing, Adrian Hadley missed out on a squad place as a result.

Wales

1 Iestyn Harris (Warrington)

2 John Devereux (Widnes)

3 Allan Bateman (Warrington)

4 Scott Gibbs (St Helens)

5 Anthony Sullivan (St Helens)

6 Jonathan Davies (Warrington) (Captain)

7 Kevin Ellis (Warrington)

8 Kelvin Skerrett (Wigan)

9 Martin Hall (Wigan)

10 David Young (Salford)

11 Paul Moriarty (Halifax)

12 Scott Quinnell (Wigan)

13 Richie Eyres (Leeds)

14 Mark Jones (Warrington)

15 Kieron Cunningham (St Helens)

16 Rowland Phillips (Workington Town)

England reached the semi finals after beating Australia (20-16), Fiji (46-0) and South Africa (46-0).

Sean Edwards was still unavailable with a knee infection, but Bobbie Goulding had proved to be a highly effective replacement.

Gary Connoly was still recovering from pneumonia, evn so, Phil Larder’s side looked a tough proposition.

England

1 Kris Radlinski (Wigan)

2 Jason Robinson (Wigan)

3 Nick Pinkey (Keighley Cougars)

4 Paul Newlove (Bradford Bulls)

5 Martin Offiah (Wigan)

6 Tony Smith (Castleford)

7 Bobbie Goulding (St Helens)

8 Karl Harrison (Halifax)

9 Lee Jackson (Sheffield Eagles)

10 Andy Platt (Auckland Warriors/Widnes)

11 Denis Betts (Captain) (Auckland Warriors)

12 Phil Clarke (Sydney City Roosters)

13 Andy Farrell (Wigan)

14 Mick Cassidy (Wigan)

15 Simon Haughton (Wigan)

16 Dean Sampson (Castleford)

England went close early on through Phil Clarke and captain Denis Betts, but it was Wales who struck the first blow in the 16th minute when Jonathan Davies landed a penalty following a Phil Clarke high tackle, Wales led 2-0, soon after Kelvin Skerrett was penalised at play the ball and Andy Farrell’s kick levelled the scores at 2-2.

Phil Clarke’s break and Andy Farrell’s pass set Paul Newlove on a bursting run through a couple of tacklers, Newlove touched down to score a try that set England on their way and eased the nerves. Farrell missed the conversion but England led 6-2.

Jiffy landed his second penalty of the match to reduce England’s lead to 6-4, but just before half time two quick scores by England changed the course of the game.

Bobbie Goulding dropped a goal on 39 minutes, and almost immediately Denis Betts scored a try, once again the conversion went wide, but England went into half time leading 11-4.

Wales start to the second half coudn’t have been much worse, Paul Moriarty was sin binned 2 minutes after the restart and the Dragons were really up against it.

Goulding cross kicked and Martin Offiah gathered unmarked to score, an almost identical score 15 minutes later with Goulding and Offiah giving a repeat performance, stretched England’s lead to 19-4.

Despite being under the cosh, the spirit that Wales had shown throughout 1995 would not be quashed, and with his first touch after coming off the bench, Rowland Phillips scored a try to give Wales and their choral legions something to shout about.

Phillips was tackled just short of the England line by Paul Newlove, spotting he had no marker he got up played the ball himself and dived over. Jonathan Davies converted and Wales were back in the match trailing 19-10.

The men in red gave it the kitchen sink in the last quarter. Kevin Ellis went close, and on 76 minutes Anthony Sullivan rounded Jason Robinson only to be denied a certain try by a wonderful tackle from England full back Kris Radlinski.

Phil Clarke’s try set up by man of the match Bobbie Goulding was the final nail in the Welsh coffin, England were victorious 25-10, and booked their date in the final seven days later where they would face Australia, at Wembley.

As the final whistle blew captain Jonathan Davies sank to his knees in tears, it was his final game of rugby league.

“I’ve never experienced such a form of camaraderie and team spirit than this squad”

John Devereux had given everything, as always. “Western Samoa had taken so much out of us, and with just a five day turn around we coudn’t back it up physically”

Wales packed their bags and head and headed home.

Clive Griffiths echoed Dev’s sentiments, “We had just played one of the toughest games of rugby ever, and for those boys to back it up a few days later was a big ask. If we’d had a bit more rest and the bounce of the ball it could have been very different.

Thousand of Welsh fans bought tickets for the final, following the win over Western Samoa in the hope and expectation of a wonderful day out at Wembley at the Rugby League World Cup Final, sadly a week later it was England who ran out under the twin towers to face Australia in the final.

Jiffy had played his last game of rugy league.

“We played hard, we worked hard, we had mutual respect for eachother which created the right culture. Also we didn’t have many injuries, we were European Champions going into the tournament and we knew were were a good side. Moriarty, Young, Jones, Skerrett, Gibbs and Devereux could mix it with anyone. football or fighting they could match anyone”.

if the stereophonics had been around I’m sure they would have been tempted to write alternative lyrics “As long as somebody beats the English we don’t care”.

The following day Australia beat New Zealand in a pulsating semi final. The scores were level 20-20 after normal time.

Matthew Ridge missed an injury time conversion that would have won the game for the Kiwi’s but his kick went just wide.

In extra time two tries for the Kangaroos by Hill and Fitler won the game for Australia.

For the record Australia beat England, 16-8 in the Wembley final in front of 66,540 spectators.

Wales success in the tournament was reflected in the fact that two of the squad were selected for the team of the tournament, flying wing Anthony Sullivan and teenage rugby sensation Iestyn Harris

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The Halifax Centenary Rugby League Cup Team Of The Tournament

 Iestyn Harris (Wales)

 Jason Robinson (England)

 Paul Newlove (England)

 Richard Blackmore (New Zealand)

 Anthony Sullivan (Wales)

 Brad Fitter (Australia)

 Adrian Lam (Papua New Guinea)

 Mark Carroll (Australia)

 Lee Jackson (England)

 David Westley (Papua New Guinea)

 Denis Betts (England)

 Steve Menzies

Andy Farrell (England)