1992 World Club Challenge
The 1992 World Club Challenge match was contested by the 1991–92 Rugby Football League season champions Wigan and the 1992 NSWRL season's premiers, the Brisbane Broncos.[1] The match took place on Friday night, 30 October in England, during the 1992–93 Rugby Football League season. It was also played less than a week after the 1992 Rugby League World Cup Final (from which many players on both sides were backing up). A crowd of 17,764 turned out at Central Park, Wigan for the match which was refereed by New Zealand's Dennis Hale, the same referee as for the World Cup final one week earlier.[2]
| 1992 World Club Challenge | |||||||||||||
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| Date | 30 October 1992 | ||||||||||||
| Stadium | Central Park | ||||||||||||
| Location | Wigan, England | ||||||||||||
Terry Matterson  | |||||||||||||
| Referees | Dennis Hale  | ||||||||||||
| Attendance | 17,764 | ||||||||||||
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The game was broadcast throughout Great Britain by Sky Sports and was shown on delay in Australia by the Nine Network. Commentary was provided by Sky's regular rugby league commentary team of Eddie Hemmings and former Great Britain hooker Mike Stephenson along with Nine's former Australian test halfback Peter Sterling.
Background
Brisbane Broncos
Teams
         Wigan
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    Brisbane Broncos
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Match details
Friday 30 October |
Wigan  |
8 – 22 | Brisbane Broncos |
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| Tries: Shaun Edwards Goals: Frano Botica (2) |
[3] | Tries: Michael Hancock (2) Julian O'Neill Kerrod Walters Goals: Terry Matterson (3) |
Brisbane's Alan Cann missed the match due to injury.[4]
Early in the match a chaotic all-in brawl erupted, with Brisbane's Andrew Gee seen as the instigator. Wigan later opened the scoring by kicking a penalty given for an obstruction by Kerrod Walters close to the Broncos' try-line. However a knock-on later by Wigan in their in-goal area gave Brisbane a scrum feed in an attacking position and Julian O'Neill capitalised, fending off one defender and avoiding another in his run for the line to score the first try of the match which was then converted by Terry Matterson. Another try, scored by Kerrod Walters as a result of good support play from the Broncos, brought the score to 2-10 at half time.
Early in the second half another all-in brawl started, Andrew Gee again involved in the initial flareup. The Broncos scored first in the second half with Steve Renouf finding Michael Hancock out wide close to the Wigan try-line. However this was followed by a miraculous try from the home team. Around the halfway line, the Wigan hooker, Martin Dermott, chipped the ball over the top of the Broncos defenders and Shaun Edwards ran through to field it. Without missing a beat Edwards then sent a grubbing kick down past a complacent Julian O'Neill at fullback and won the race for it, with Wigan's goal-kicker Frano Botica adding the extra two. Later in the game Renouf again combined with Hancock out wide, throwing a looping pass over the Wigan defence to send the Broncos' number two over once more. The successful conversion attempt by Matterson, who was named man-of-the-match, left the final score at 22-8.[5]
The Brisbane Broncos' victory saw the first time that Australian premiers had won the World Club Challenge on British soil. It was also only the second time that an Australian team had won at all, the last time being in 1976, in the first ever match of its kind.
See also
References
- Hadfield, Dave (30 October 1992). "Wigan must be wary of Broncos' enthusiasm and flair". The Independent. London: The Independent. Retrieved 28 November 2010.
- 1992 World Club Challenge highlights
- 1992 WCC - Wigan vs Brisbane
- "CANN-TANKEROUS". The Sun-Herald. Australia: Fairfax Media. 25 September 1993. p. 75. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
- Hadfield, Dave (31 October 1992). "Rugby League: Wigan succumb to their peers". The Independent. London.