2009 World Club Challenge
| 2009 World Club Challenge | |||||||||||||
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| Date | 1 March 2009 | ||||||||||||
| Stadium | Elland Road | ||||||||||||
| Location | Leeds, England | ||||||||||||
Anthony Watmough, 
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| Referees | Jason Robinson 
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| Attendance | 32,569 | ||||||||||||
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The 2009 World Club Challenge was contested by Super League XIII champions, Leeds Rhinos, competing in their second consecutive World Club Challenge, and 2008 NRL Premiers, the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles. For the first time since 2003, the Australian champions defeated their English counterparts.
The match featured 28 penalties and two punch-ups which resulted in rival Props Josh Perry (Manly) and Jamie Peacock (Leeds) sin-binned in the 20th minute. with Manly's three quick tries in the first seven minutes after the break proving decisive. Leeds scored three tries of their own towards the end of the match, but by then it was too late.
Leeds Rhinos qualified through being the 2008 Super League champions, defeating St. Helens 24 - 16 in the Grand Final. The Yorkshire club had already completed their first three rounds of Super League XIV before contesting the world Club Challenge, with wins in all of them.
The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles clinched the 2008 National Rugby League Premiership with a 40-0 thrashing of the Melbourne Storm - an Australian grand final record, earning them a place in the World Club Challenge. Five months later they travelled to England, while other NRL clubs were starting pre-season trial matches against one another. Showing how serious Manly were, the week before the World Club Challenge the Sea Eagles had a warm-up match against Super League club Harlequins RL at The Stoop in London, winning 34-26. Manly played the first half against the Harlequins with their bench players, and their regular starters only had the second half to work out any cobwebs as most had not played since either the Grand Final or the 2008 World Cup which had concluded four months before the WCC. It was the first time a visiting team had played a warm-up match before the WCC.
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