2007 World Club Challenge
| 2007 World Club Challenge | |||||||||||||
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| Date | 23 February 2007 | ||||||||||||
| Stadium | Reebok Stadium | ||||||||||||
| Location | Bolton, United Kingdom | ||||||||||||
| Paul Sculthorpe, St Helens | |||||||||||||
| Referees | Steve Clarke | ||||||||||||
| Attendance | 23207 | ||||||||||||
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The 2007 Carnegie World Club Challenge was played between Super League XI champions, St. Helens and 2006 National Rugby League premiers, the Brisbane Broncos. It was a replay of the 2001 World Club Challenge, and both clubs' fifth WCC appearance. The match was played on the night of 23 February at Reebok Stadium, Bolton before a crowd of 23,207.
On 1 October 2006 the Brisbane Broncos clinched the 2006 National Rugby League title in a 15 - 8 defeat of Melbourne Storm to earn a place in the new year's World Club Challenge. Already the leading Australian club in number of Challenge appearances, 2007's match would make it the 4th time Brisbane would travel to England for the match (they also hosted the World Club challenge in 1994, making it a total of 5 appearances.
On 14 October 2006 St Helens qualified for the Challenge after being crowned the 2006 Super League champions, defeating Hull F.C. 26 - 4 in the Grand Final. They went into the match against the Broncos on the back of consecutive defeats in the early rounds of the 2007 Super League XII season.
Brisbane arrived in the United Kingdom with just an 18-man squad for two scheduled matches, the World Club Challenge and a warm-up game. Brisbane played their warm-up match against National League Two side Celtic Crusaders at the Brewery Field in Bridgend on 15 February 2007, eight days before the world title contest. The warm-up watch was titled the Bulmers Original Cider Challenge. During the match, Brisbane players wore a new type of playing kit that allowed them to dry their hands during play using a chamois panel on the back of the shorts. Brisbane eventually beat Celtic 32–6 but had first been held scoreless during the opening quarter of the match.
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