TO mark this week's rugby league 125th birthday celebrations, here is an alternative set of six based on half a dozen matches that will always stir memories of the greatest game.

1. England v Wales, Knowsley Road, May 1978.

I think my dad had got just sick of his stories of Voll, Vinty, Murph and Johnny Raper falling on deaf ears, or exasperated by my fawning over a declining Leeds United football team and pining after the departed Billy Bremner.

St Helens Star: Tom Van Vollenhoven

So on that fine Spring Bank Holiday he did his bit to convert me. He did plenty for me in his lifetime - but this was up there with one of his most prudent decisions.

As a contest it was pretty one-sided, England running out 60-13 winners - but it was special with it being the first time I had set foot in Knowsley Road.

First impressions are always the most vivid - and so they are from that day. The rosette sellers, whiff of the hot dog onions and the bespectacled fella on the Dunriding Lane bridge with the placard declaring: "Be sure your sins will find you out!"

Looking at the pitch there was no mistaking the hulking great figure of big Jim Mills filling out that red jersey to bursting point.

Stuart Wright raced in for four tries that day.

"Is he is as quick as Vollenhoven?"

"No, son."

I would soon discover that my dad's generation of heroes would always be untouchable, no matter what followed.

St Helens Star: Mal Meninga during his debut against Castleford in October 1984. Picture: Brian Peers

2. Wigan v Saints, Lancashire Cup Final, 1984.

Saints went seven seasons without winning any of the multitude of cups up for grabs - a long time for a club of their pedigree and particularly for supporters who had only started following in 1978.

That would change when the scrapping of the overseas ban meant Saints could bring over Mal Meninga and Phil Veivers.

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It was the catalyst for Saints' homegrown team challenging for honours once again - and the first of those was that Big Mal inspired Lancashire Cup Final win in front of a 26,000 Central Park crowd that revived memories of the sport's post-war halcyon days.

Big Mal stirred the town once again, and a couple of thousand more fans found their way to Knowsley Road as a result.

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3. Halifax v Saints, Challenge Cup Final, 1987.

Following any team brings pleasure and pain.

The one-point defeat by Halifax beneath the Twin Towers produced so many talking points; Not dropping a goal, Mark Elia slide, John Pendlebury's crafty tackle, the contentious first score....but all that debate can never alter one of the most heart-breaking defeats of Saints' history.

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The biggest regret from that day is that homegrown Saints like Chris Arkwright, Graham Liptrot, Barry Ledger, Neil Holding and Paul Loughlin never got the chance to lift that famous old trophy.

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4. Saints v Bradford Bulls, Challenge Cup Final, 1996.

Good things come to those who wait.....and in 1996 Bobbie Goulding's bombs crowned the Ultimate Comeback to bring the cup back to St Helens for the first time in 20 years.

And from that bounce they went on to make it a double with the inaugural Super League title.

St Helens Star: Leon Pryce, Willie Talau, Jason Hooper and Sean Long take a break in the Old Trafford changing rooms during last Monday's walkabout.

5. Saints v Hull, Grand Final, 2006

Daniel Anderson's team of that year was incredible, both individually in each position and collectively as a team - losing only four times and none by a margin greater than four.

It was memorable, not simply being able to see the mastery of the second Wizard of Aus, Jamie Lyon. But the quality provided by the rock-solid Paul Wellens at the absolute top of his game, the interjections of Leon Pryce, the quality decision making and delivery of Sean Long, the twin hookers Keiron Cunningham and James Roby in the middle of an immense pack.

St Helens Star: Men of Steel: Paul Wellens and Jamie Lyon

But winning the Challenge Cup and League Leaders Shield in a gruelling 35 game season would have meant nothing had they lost that final match.

My daughter Rosa was born on the eve of that Grand Final which meant I was 10 minutes late rocking up at Old Trafford yawning with a daft grin on my face that probably would have stayed there even if Hull FC won by 60.

It was never in doubt with that class of 2006 completing the clean sweep and then upsetting the golfers by winning the vote for the BBC Sports Personality Team of the Year.

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6. Saints v Salford, Grand Final, 2019.

Justin Holbrook helped transform Saints and help unite all wings of the club again after some rocky times from 2008 onwards. He was such a positive breath of fresh air and his approach helped pour oil on troubled waters that even prop Alex Walmsley described as "toxic".

However, failures in the big knockout games looked like he was going to be denied the genuine legacy he deserved.

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Having been head and shoulders above everyone else in 2019 it would have been a travesty had Saints left the year with just the League Leaders Shield.

Saints got what they deserved at Old Trafford, something that was not simply satisfying for Holbrook and the fans...but those players, especially the ones like Jonny Lomax who had missed out with injury in 2014.

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