1992 World Club Challenge

The year 1992's World Club Challenge match was contested by the then Rugby Football League champions Wigan and NSWRL season 1992's premiers, the Brisbane Broncos. The match took place on Friday night, the 30th of October, less than a week after the World Cup Final (from which many players on both sides were backing up) at Central Park, Wigan in front of a crowd of 17,764. The referee was New Zealand's Dennis Hale, the same referee as for the WCF one week earlier.

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 conversaion attempt by Matterson, who was named man-of-the-match, left the final score at 22-8.

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.

ee also

*World Club Challenge
*Brisbane Broncos 1992

External links

* [http://www.superleague.co.uk/wcc_1992-3.php?rid=321 1992 World Club Challenge at superleague.co.uk]
* [http://rugbyleagueproject.com/matches/World_Club_Challenge_1992/Wigan_Warriors-vs-Brisbane_Broncos.html 1992 World Club Challenge at rugbyleagueproject.com]