1978–79 John Player Cup Explained

1978–79 John Player Cup
Champions:	Leicester Tigers
Count:	1
Previous Year:	1977–78
Next Year:	1979–80

The 1978–79 John Player Cup was the eighth edition of England's premier rugby union club competition at the time. Leicester won the competition defeating Moseley in the final.^[1] The event was sponsored by John Player cigarettes and the final was held at Twickenham Stadium.^[2]

Draw and results

First round

width=250	Team one	width=250	Team two	width=50	Score
Esher	Gosforth	3-38
Leicester	Northampton	29-3
Broughton Park	Orrell	12-9
Exeter	London Scottish	15-11
Gloucester	Richmond	3-3*
Harlequins	Plymouth Albion	21-9
Hartlepool Rovers	Walsall	13-0
Havant	Rosslyn Park	0-19
Ipswich	Matson	6-14
London Irish	Avon & Somerset Police	32-7
Wasps	Blackheath	11-0
Moseley	Liverpool	22-13
Rugby	Coventry	12-29
Wakefield	Bedford	12-27
Birkenhead Park	Sale	9-6
London Welsh	Bath	28-18

Progressed as away team*

Second round

width=250	Team one	width=250	Team two	width=50	Score
Gosforth	Harlequins	9-3
Leicester	Broughton Park	30-7
Richmond	Matson	22-3
Rosslyn Park	Exeter	7-6
Wasps	Hartlepool Rovers	10-6
Bedford	Birkenhead Park	16-8
London Irish	Moseley	0-10
London Welsh	Coventry	21-3

Quarter-finals

width=250	Team one	width=250	Team two	width=50	Score
Bedford	Leicester	12-22
Wasps	London Welsh	6-3
Gosforth	Rosslyn Park	7-3
Moseley	Richmond	27-3

Semi-finals

width=250	Team one	width=250	Team two	width=50	Score
Gosforth	Moseley	3-6
Wasps	Leicester	7-43

Final

^[3]


	O	Dusty Hare
	N	Mick Newton
	M	Terry Burwell
	L	Paul Dodge
	K	Tim Barnwell
	J	Les Cusworth
	I	Steve Kenney
	G	Garry Adey
	H	Ian "Dosser" Smith
	F	Steve Johnson
	E	Arthur Hazelrigg
	D	Nick Joyce
	C	Steve Redfern
	B	Peter Wheeler (c)
	A	Robin Cowling
Replacements:
	P	Angus Collington
	Q	Brian Hall
	R	Jim Kempin
	S	Jez Krych
	T	Tim Walley
	U	John White
Coach:
Chalkie White


	15	Richard Akenhead
	14	Alan Thomas
	13	Malcolm Swain
	12	Barrie Corless
	11	Bob Laird
	10	Martin Cooper (c)
	9	Chris Gifford
	8	Derek Nutt
	7	Nick Jeavons
	6	Russ Field
	5	Barry Ayre
	4	John Beale
	3	Kevin Astley
	2	Gary Cox
	1	Bert Greaves
Replacements:
	16	Andy Watson-Jones for Corless (30m)
	17	Steve King for Nutt (50m)
Coach:

Notes and References

Book: Jenkins, Vivian. Rothmans Rugby Yearbook. 1979. Brickfield Publications Ltd. 0354-09087-9.
Web site: Times Archives. Oxfordshire Libraries.
Web site: Moseley report. Moseley Rugby.co.uk.