Leeds 

Tries: John Bentley
Goals: Simon Irving 2

So in the last 15 days Wigan had played Friday, Monday, Thursday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday again and now had a Saturday Afternoon match to hopefully complete the title. They had blown one opportunity in only drawing to Bradford two days earlier and they knew a loss here would be costly because Widnes' last game on the Sunday would be at home to bottom of the table Rochdale, who had won just 1 of 24 league games all season.

Both Andy Gregory and Joe Lydon missed the decider injured but Bobbie Goulding in particular was an able deputy and he opened the scoring with a drop goal to make it 1-0 after 8 minutes. Soon after an error from John Gallagher from his kick helped Andy Goodway score to make it 7-0 after Botica converted. Further drop goals from first Goulding again and then Ellery Hanley, right on half time, helped Wigan into a 9-2 half time lead with Leeds kicking a penalty in-between the two one pointers.

Wigan never looked like letting that lead slip, despite Ellery Hanley limping off during with 28 minutes still to go. Goulding completed a hat-trick of drop goals to make it 10-2 a close range try from Martin Dermott settled nerves further but Botica missed the extras, leaving the score at 14-2. That missed kicked looked a bit costly when Garry Schofield sent John Bentley over for a try that made it 14-8 but Wigan never panicked. Botica kicked a penalty to make it 16-8 and in the 74th Minute, Denis Betts crashed over to complete a remarkable title triumph for Wigan. In the end it was a good thing Wigan delayed their success by two days because the clincher was televised live by Granada Television when otherwise they'd have been showing a dead duck contest.

Leeds 2 Wigan 9

15,313

John Holdsworth (Kippax)

Live Coverage on Granada - Clive Tyldesley & Peter Tunks

1st Place:l

Wigan

-

Played

-

-

Won

-

-

Drawn

-

2

-

Lost

-

-

Points:

-

-

(Diff: +349)

2nd Place:l

Widnes

-

Played

-

-

Won

-

-

Drawn

-

0

-

Lost

-

-

Points:

-

-

(Diff: +271)

3rd Place:l

Hull

-

Played

-

-

Won

-

-

Drawn

-

0

-

Lost

-

-

Points:

-

-

(Diff: +151)

4th Place:l

Castleford

-

Played

-

-

Won

-

-

Drawn

-

0

-

Lost

-

-

Points:

-

-

(Diff: +118)

5th Place:l

Leeds

-

Played

-

-

Won

-

-

Drawn

-

2

-

Lost

-

-

Points:

-

-

(Diff: +154)

1st Place:l

Wigan

-

Played

-

-

Won

-

-

Drawn

-

2

-

Lost

-

-

Points:

-

-

(Diff: +349)

2nd Place:l

Widnes

-

Played

-

-

Won

-

-

Drawn

-

0

-

Lost

-

-

Points:

-

-

(Diff: +295)

3rd Place:l

Hull

-

Played

-

-

Won

-

-

Drawn

-

0

-

Lost

-

-

Points:

-

-

(Diff: +146)

4th Place:l

Castleford

-

Played

-

-

Won

-

-

Drawn

-

0

-

Lost

-

-

Points:

-

-

(Diff: +136)

5th Place:l

Leeds

-

Played

-

-

Won

-

-

Drawn

-

2

-

Lost

-

-

Points:

-

-

(Diff: +154)