Melbourne Storm 18–14 Leeds Rhinos — 2013 World Club Challenge
Headingley, Leeds · Attendance: 20,400
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
2013 World Club Challenge: Melbourne Storm 18–14 Leeds Rhinos, at Headingley, Leeds.
Sourcing caveat: Tohu Harris's try minute and the identity of the player denied a late try for an alleged forward pass are approximate/unconfirmed in sources found.
Scoring timeline
| 20′ | Melbourne Storm — try, Slater |
| 29′ | Leeds Rhinos — try, Hall |
| 44′ | Melbourne Storm — try, Bromwich |
Tries with a sourced minute, in order scored. Tries whose exact minute isn't recorded in available sources appear in the Scorers table below but not here.
Scorers
| Melbourne Storm | Tries: Slater 20'; Bromwich 44'; Harris Goals: Smith (3/4 conversions) |
| Leeds Rhinos | Tries: Hall 29'; Jones-Buchanan Goals: Sinfield (3/3 conversions) |
Teams
| Melbourne Storm | Leeds Rhinos | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Billy Slater | Fullback | Kallum Watkins | 3 |
| 2 | Sisi Waqa | Wing | Joe Vickery | 25 |
| 3 | Will Chambers | Centre | Carl Ablett | 12 |
| 4 | Justin O'Neill | Centre | Joel Moon | 4 |
| 5 | Mahe Fonua | Wing | Ryan Hall | 5 |
| 6 | Gareth Widdop | Five-eighth | Kevin Sinfield | 13 |
| 7 | Cooper Cronk | Halfback | Danny McGuire | 6 |
| 8 | Jesse Bromwich | Front row | Kylie Leuluai | 8 |
| 9 | Cameron Smith | Hooker (c) | Rob Burrow | 7 |
| 10 | Bryan Norrie | Front row | Jamie Peacock | 10 |
| 11 | Tohu Harris | Second row | Stevie Ward | 14 |
| 12 | Ryan Hoffman | Second row | Brett Delaney | 15 |
| 13 | Ryan Hinchcliffe | Lock | Jamie Jones-Buchanan | 11 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 15 | Siosaia Vave | Ian Kirke | 17 | |
| 16 | Jason Ryles | Paul McShane | 9 | |
| 17 | Junior Moors | Chris Clarkson | 18 | |
| 18 | Lagi Setu | Mitch Achurch | 19 | |
| Craig Bellamy | Coach | Brian McDermott | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Ben Thaler |
| Player of the match | Cooper Cronk (Melbourne) |
Match report
Melbourne struck first through an early penalty goal, then Billy Slater's 20th-minute try put them ahead. Leeds hit back via Ryan Hall's corner try, and Kevin Sinfield's accurate boot levelled the score at half-time. Jesse Bromwich extended Melbourne's lead early in the second half before a length-of-field attacking move ended with Tohu Harris crossing to make it 18-8. Leeds refused to fold, Jamie Jones-Buchanan scoring late to close the gap to four, and nearly snatched a dramatic finish when a further try was ruled out for an earlier forward pass. Melbourne held on for an 18-14 win, their second world title in three seasons following the controversial 2010 result. Cooper Cronk was named player of the match for his kicking game and control at halfback, steering Melbourne through a physical, closely-fought contest against a Leeds side that pushed them to the final whistle.This match belonged to the modern, annual World Club Challenge era launched in 2000, pitting that season's NRL Premiers directly against the same season's Super League Grand Final winners in a single fixture. The fixture as a whole began as a single unofficial match in 1976 and was repeated only sporadically through the 1980s and early 1990s: it wasn't played at all in 1988, 1990, 1993, or 1995-96, the last of those gaps caused by the Super League War splitting Australian rugby league into two rival competitions. The 1997 attempt to relaunch it as a 22-club, two-conference "World Club Championship" — five Australasian clubs touring Europe and five European clubs touring Australasia simultaneously — reportedly lost more than $5 million and was shelved for three years. It returned in 2000 as the simple one-off match still used today, missing only during the brief 2015-2017 multi-match "World Club Series" expansion (when the marquee fixture still determined the World Club Challenge title, alongside several other NRL-Super League pairings played the same week) and the 2021-2022 Covid-19 cancellations and the 2025 withdrawal by Penrith Panthers. The result here was Melbourne Storm's 3rd World Club Challenge title and the 21st staging of the fixture since its unofficial 1976 debut.