St Helens upset National Rugby League champions Penrith to become the first Super League side to win the World Club Challenge in Australia since 1994.
Lewis Dodd kicked the winning drop-goal in golden-point extra time after the Panthers fought back from 12-0 down.
Super League champions Saints led 10-0 at the break thanks to Jack Welsby’s try and a second from Konrad Hurrell.
Mark Percival added a penalty but Penrith hit back to level through Izack Tago and Brian To’o’s last-gasp score.
The last club to achieve such a feat down under was the all-conquering Wigan side featuring Jason Robinson, Martin Offiah and Denis Betts; back when league was a winter game, against Wayne Bennett’s star-packed Brisbane Broncos.
This was also Saints’ first win in the World Club Challenge since 2007, again against the Broncos at Bolton’s then Reebok Stadium.
Any doubts that Saints, who have won Super League four years in a row, could transfer that domestic dominance to a global stage, particularly on away turf, proved utterly unfounded by the performance and result of this final encounter.
In a sense the scoreline failed to represent the control that Saints showed in large periods, forcing errors with their line speed and causing headaches at the other end in attack.
Welsby was immense, scoring after the tireless James Roby and Jonny Lomax exploited one such ruck to put Curtis Sironen through a hole, and denying To’o a try at the other end.
Alex Walmsley and Matty Lees, assisted by Agnatius Paasi and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook off the bench, continually churned out metres against a back-pedalling defence.
It was that go-forward which gave Hurrell the chance for his try out wide, a typical surge through, and left Penrith staring at a two-score deficit. Courtesy of Matt Newsun BBC Sport website
State of Mind would like to congratulate Saint on an amazing victory!!!