The crowd of 73,631 at Wembley set a new international rugby league attendance record, eclipsing the previous record of 70,204 established during the first test of the 1932 Ashes series at the Sydney Cricket Ground.[1] This record was eventually broken by the 2013 Rugby League World Cup Final, which drew a sellout crowd of 74,468 at Old Trafford.[2]
The Mal Reilly coached Great Britain started their World Cup campaign on 11 November 1989 when they defeated New Zealand 10–6 at Central Park in Wigan. Until the Final, The Lions won another 4 games while losing 3.
Australia began their World Cup campaign with a 22–14 win over New Zealand in the third test of the 1989 Trans-Tasman series in Auckland on 23 July 1989. The Bob Fulton coached Kangaroos would win all 8 of their qualifying games.
In the fortnight prior to the World Cup final (following the 1992 NSWRL Grand Final), the Australians embarked on a mini three game tour of England, essentially using the games as selection trial for the Final at Wembley. The Australians wore a non-traditional mostly white jumper with a green and gold diamond pattern in the shape of Kit supplier Umbro.[citation needed]
Of the selected squad, only team vice captain Allan Langer, Paul Sironen and David Gillespie had played in Australia's 1988 World Cup final win over New Zealand. All three would go on to play in the Final at Wembley playing in the same positions and wearing the same numbers (7, 11 and 14 respectively) they had done four years earlier at Eden Park.
Before the final, Australia and Great Britain had played each other 119 times, with Australia winning 57 times, Great Britain 57 and 5 draws. Australia had not lost a test series or a World Cup to Great Britain (or England) since the 1972 World Cup.
Australia and Great Britain had met in three previous World Cup finals; 1970 at Headingley Stadium in Leeds (won 12–7 by Australia), 1972 at Stade de Gerland in Lyon, France (the game finished in a 10–10 draw but the Lions were awarded the Cup after finishing on top of the table), and 1977 at the Sydney Cricket Ground (won 13–12 by Australia).
Host venue
As they had done in 1988, Australia won the right to host the World Cup final. However, in the interests of rugby league and although they were confident of a sell-out if the game was held in Australia after capacity crowds attended all three Ashes Series tests earlier in the year against Great Britain, with the potential for a much larger attendance since at the time Lang Park in Brisbane could only hold 32,500, and the Sydney Football Stadium could only seat 42,500, the Australian Rugby League (ARL) agreed to the Rugby Football League (RFL) hosting the final at the 82,000 capacity Wembley Stadium in London.[citation needed]
For the Lions, veteran Wigan outside back Joe Lydon was called into the squad late after Graham Steadman had picked up an injury and was unavailable. With Daryl Powell also unavailable through injury, Garry Schofield (who retained the captaincy over Ellery Hanley) was moved to the centres while new Bradford Northern signing Deryck Fox was recalled to play halfback with Shaun Edwards moved to stand-off. Also recalled for his first test in almost two years (and ultimately his last) was 35 year old veteran front rower Kevin Ward. The Kangaroos went into the game with a question mark over their fullback with 21 year old Tim Brasher called upon to make his test debut in the No.1 jumper in the absence of Andrew Ettingshausen while injury to Laurie Daley saw Penrith's talented 20 year old Brad Fittler selected at 5/8. While the Lions were dominated by Wigan with 8 of their 17 being from the Cherry and Whites, it was Winfield Cup premiers Brisbane who had the most representation with 7 Broncos players selected (and all sporting crew-cuts as a result of their premiership celebrations), though Chris Johns would be the only player from either side not to get on the field during the game.
The first half of the World Cup final was a tight affair. The Lions took the lead early thanks to a penalty goal from Deryck Fox after a spilled bomb in front of the posts by debuting Kangaroos fullback Tim Brasher. Fox put up an attacking bomb and Brasher was tackled by Lions fullback Joe Lydon as he attempted to catch the ball. From there Steve Renouf dived on the loose ball that was only 2 metres in front of the posts and was ruled to be offside. From then on Fox and Kangaroos captain Mal Meninga traded penalty goals until the half with Great Britain going into the break with a 6–4 lead.
Great Britain were lucky to have a full complement on the field from about the 20 minute mark of the final after hooker Martin Dermott had caught Australian five-eighth Brad Fittler with an elbow to the face.[citation needed] However Dermott was cautioned by referee Hale rather than sent off. While Meninga kicked a penalty goal, Fittler went to the sidelines where he was cleared of serious injury and returned to the game without being replaced. At half time, Kangaroos doctor Nathan Gibbs diagnosed a hairline fracture of his cheek bone, but cleared him to play on.
Great Britain wasn't without its own problems though. Early in the first half fullback Joe Lydon picked up an ankle injury and he would be eventually replaced by Alan Tait in the second half. The Lions would also lose centre Gary Connolly to a leg injury which would see him replaced by a former Welshrugby union international, John Devereux.[4]
Second half
At half time, former Welsh rugby union international turned Widnes outside back John Devereux replaced Gary Conolly with the St Helens centre succumbing to an ankle injury picked up just before halftime. For the Kangaroos, 2nd rower Paul Sironen had suffered a back injury late in the first half and was replaced by David Gillespie.
Into the second half the match was becoming a struggle with neither team seriously threatening the others line. The closest either team came to scoring was when Australian winger Willie Carne looked to have scored in the corner but the final pass from Meninga was ruled forward. The home side were still leading 6–4 with only 12 minutes remaining.[5] The only try of the match was then set up by Australian replacement back Kevin Walters who, with a clever cut-out pass, put his Brisbane Broncos teammate Steve Renouf into a gap created by replacement Lions centre John Devereux moving up and taking no–one (Walters had replaced lock forward Bradley Clyde who left the field with a dislocated shoulder with Brad Fittler moved to lock forward). Renouf, in his debut test for Australia, then raced 20 metres to score in the corner before replacement fullback Alan Tait and Shaun Edwards, who had earlier in the half spent 10 minutes in the sin-bin for kneeing Renouf after making a tackle on the debutant Australian, could come across in cover.[6] Meninga's sideline conversion of Renouf's try gave Australia what would be a match winning 10–6 lead. Following Meninga's conversion, the dark clouds that had moved in over Wembley opened up and the rain started pouring, not stopping until after the final siren (it would actually begin to hail immediately after the match finished). Despite the change in weather, Australia was able to hold Great Britain out and maintain their lead until the final siren.
Australian hooker Steve Walters was named the man-of-the-match for the 1992 World Cup final.[7]
Broadcast
The match was broadcast into the United Kingdom by the BBC with commentary from Ray French and Alex Murphy.
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