Rugby League Career
In October 1967 Watkins signed to play rugby league, joining Salford for £15,000, a then club record. He was Salford's captain in 1967 and also in the Challenge Cup Final in 1969 when they were beaten by Castleford. He became their record points scorer and steered them to victory in the Lancashire Cup Final in 1972 by beating Swinton at Wilderspool, Warrington. He led Salford to the Championship in 1974.
He retired after being injured on the 1974 Australasian tour but came back to mastermind a win in the BBC2 Floodlit Cup Final against Warrington in 1975. In 1976 Salford won the Championship again but lost the play-off final to St. Helens.
His rugby league career ended in 1979 after playing for Swinton for a season. In the 1972–73 season he kicked a world record 221 goals in a season. He also holds the longest scoring run record in 92 consecutive matches for Salford from 19 August 1972 to 25 April 1974. He totalled 929 points from 41 tries and 403 goals. The record refers to scoring consecutively for one club and does not include representative matches.
Read more about this topic: David Watkins (rugby)
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