1994 World Club Challenge

The 1994 MMI World Club Challenge was a replay of the 1992 World Club Challenge, with 1993-94 Rugby Football League season champions Wigan facing the 1993 NSWRL season premiers, the Brisbane Broncos, this time in Australia. The match was played at Brisbane's ANZ Stadium on the 1st of June in the middle of NSWRL season 1994. A crowd of 54,220 (which remains a record for a World Club Challenge match today) turned out for the game which was refereed by Greg McCallum. Wigan's chances didn't look good up against a star-studded Broncos side since both of their first choice test props, Kelvin Skerrett (broken jaw) and Andy Platt had been ruled out injured. In addition their coach, John Dorahy, had been sacked just weeks before so they went into the match under caretaker coach Graeme West.

Wigan opened the scoring in the seventh minute, when Dennis Betts pounced on a high ball from Shaun Edwards. The British champions added to this with another try in the 16th minute from Barrie Jon-Mather, bringing the unlikely score of 12 nil in favour of the visitors. In the 27th minute, Wendell Sailor opened the scoring for Brisbane when he beat Martin Offiah on the wing to put the ball down in the corner. The failed conversion meant a half-time lead for Wigan of 12 - 4.

Just three minutes into the second half a defining moment in the game took place when Michael Hancock knocked on and Jason Robinson picked up the ball and sped away, beating Sailor to score Wigan's third try. Frano Botica made it three from three with the boot when he kicked the extras, bringing the score to 18 - 4. Brisbane staged a comeback though, with Hancock making amends for his knock on with a try at the 46-minute mark and Julian O'Neill getting a try on 59 minutes. Wigan's lead was brought back to four points, but their defence held the Broncos out for the remainder of the game. A 66th minute penalty by Botica meant a perfect night with the boot for him a final score of 14 - 20. Shaun Edwards was named man-of-the-match.

The visitors had reclaimed the WCC trophy and went home with the $400,000 of prize money. With the Super League war looming, this was to be the last WCC match until Super League's 1997 season, and the last time the British and Australian champions faced off until the year 2000.

ee also

*World Club Challenge
*Brisbane Broncos 1994

External links

* [http://www.superleague.co.uk/wcc_1993-4.php?rid=321 1994 World Club Challenge at superleague.co.uk]
* [http://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=693 1994 World Club Challenge at wigan.rlfans.com]
* [http://rugbyleagueproject.com/matches/World_Club_Challenge_1994/Brisbane_Broncos-vs-Wigan_Warriors.html 1994 World Club Challenge at rugbyleagueproject.com]