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The man who scored 56 points in one rugby league game

In 2004 former Bradford and Castleford hooker Wayne Godwin scored 34 points in one game as England defeated Russia in Moscow. As England remarkably posted 98 points in the Nations Cup match, Godwin kicked 15 out of 17 attempts at goal and poached a try for his troubles as well.

Annoyingly, had Godwin kicked just one more of his 17 conversion attempts England would have brought up the century. Nonetheless, it is a bizarre yet impressive record. It was a bizarre day in general as even Andy Coley – a prop at Salford at the time – scored a hat-trick. You might wonder why this England team featured so many unfamiliar names. Well, it was in the days of Great Britain, meaning England was more a feeder set-up as they battled the likes of France for the Nations Cup.

Despite it not been the England we know today, with Great Britain gone and the home nations now split up, Godwin’s record still stands to this day. It is one of the most unlikely records in rugby league and is one you are likely to hear as part of a quiz down at your local rugby club. But don’t stop reading yet, because that’s not the only unlikely quiz question answer in this article.

The record for the most points scored in a professional rugby league match is also held by an English player. In fact it’s perhaps as an unlikely source as what Godwin is and is held by a player from the North East. Chris Thorman was in the latter stages of his career when he created rugby league history. Playing for York City Knights in 2011, Thorman scored a remarkable 56 points in a Challenge Cup victory over Northumbria University –  scoring four tries and kicking a mammoth 20 conversions.

Thorman’s 56 points remains a rugby league record to this day, and one of the more unlikely ones. As is the theme of this article, perhaps one of the other most unlikely record holders of recent times belongs to Denny Solomona. With a massive 40 tries in the 2016 Super League campaign, the Castleford winger stormed past the record previously held by Lesley Vainikolo and Danny McGuire. Solomona was outstanding that season, but that was the last we ever saw of him in Super League as he joined rugby union side Sale Sharks.

As mentioned previously, an England RL team are more of a new creation at the elite level of international rugby league. Therefore most of the records which are usually held by more historic players, as is the case with Great Britain RL, are taken up by more modern players. That is certainly the case when it comes to most England appearances. James Graham and Ryan Hall share this record, that despite Graham not making his England debut until he was 22. This again perhaps points to the lack of fixtures England have played over the years but is still a noteworthy achievement nonetheless, with Hall, albeit left out of the recent series against Tonga, still not technically retired.

The final ‘unlikely’ record is another one where you perhaps expect to see a name from previous generations at the top, but the Rugby League World Cup record tries in tournament goes to two players we all know from more modern times. Perhaps expecting to see Billy Slater, Mal Meninga or even Ellery Hanley head up the list, Valentine Holmes and Josh Addo-Carr are the players who lead the way. Both have 12 tries in their respective tournaments, with Holmes scoring 11 of his in just two games at the 2017 event. That came about after he scored five against Samoa in the quarter-finals and six against Fiji in the semi-finals, but he was unable to add to that in final against England leaving him on 12.

This opened the door for Addo-Carr to take the title at the 2021 World Cup, which was staged a year later in 2022. Addo-Carr was prolific throughout and scored the try of the tournament at Elland Road against New Zealand in the semi-finals, widely regarded as one of the greatest World Cup games ever to be played. The other 11 tries came against Fiji (2), Scotland (4) and Lebanon (5), as just like Holmes he was unable to break the record after failing to score in the 30-10 win over Samoa in the final – that despite the best efforts of his teammates to pass him the ball in the closing stages of the match.

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