1989–1992 Rugby League World Cup

The World Cup final was played at Wembley Stadium in London.

London
Wembley Stadium
Capacity: 82,000

23 July 1989

New Zealand	14–22	Australia

Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland Attendance: 15,000

The first match of the 1989–1992 World Cup was also the 3rd test of the 1989 Trans-Tasman Test series which was won 3–0 by Australia

11 November 1989

Great Britain	10–6	New Zealand

Central Park, Wigan Attendance: 20,346

3 December 1989

France	0–34	New Zealand

Stade d'Albert Domec, Carcassonne Attendance: 4,208

2 June 1990

Papua New Guinea	8–40	Great Britain

Lloyd Robson Oval, Port Moresby Attendance: 7,837

27 June 1990

Australia	34–2	France

Pioneer Oval, Parkes, New South Wales Attendance: 12,384

15 July 1990

New Zealand	21–18	Great Britain

Queen Elizabeth II Park, Christchurch Attendance: 3,133

11 August 1990

Papua New Guinea	10–18	New Zealand

Lloyd Robson Oval, Port Moresby Attendance: 7,837

24 November 1990

Great Britain	0–14	Australia

Elland Road, Leeds Attendance: 32,500

This match was also the 3rd and deciding test of the 1990 Ashes series.

9 December 1990

France	10–34	Australia

Stade Gilbert Brutus, Perpignan Attendance: 3,428

27 January 1991

France	10–45	Great Britain

Stade Gilbert Brutus, Perpignan Attendance: 3,965

23 June 1991

New Zealand	32–10	France

Addington Showground, Christchurch Attendance: 2,000

7 July 1991

Papua New Guinea	18–20	France

Danny Leahy Oval, Goroka Attendance: 11,485

31 July 1991

Australia	40–12	New Zealand

Lang Park, Brisbane Attendance: 29,139

This match was also the 3rd and deciding test of the 1991 Trans-Tasman series.

13 October 1991

Papua New Guinea	6–40	Australia

Lloyd Robson Oval, Port Moresby Attendance: 14,500

Australian winger Willie Carne crossed for a hat trick of tries in Port Moresby.

9 November 1991

Great Britain	56–4	Papua New Guinea

Central Park, Wigan Attendance: 4,193

24 November 1991

France	28–14	Papua New Guinea

Stade d'Albert Domec, Carcassonne Attendance: 1,440

7 March 1992

Great Britain	36–0	France

The Boulevard, Kingston-upon-Hull Attendance: 5,250

3 July 1992

Australia	16–10	Great Britain
Tries: Daley Meninga Goals: Meninga (4)		Tries: Offiah Goals: Eastwood (3)

Lang Park, Brisbane Attendance: 32,313 Player of the Match: Paul Sironen (Australia)

In addition to being an allocated World Cup match, this was the third, deciding test of the 1992 Ashes series. This six-point margin of defeat meant that New Zealand would need to beat Papua New Guinea by 109 points in the following match to prevent a Great Britain-Australia World Cup final in October.[2]

5 July 1992

New Zealand	66–10	Papua New Guinea

Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland Attendance: 3,000

15 July 1992

Australia	36–14	Papua New Guinea

Townsville Sports Reserve, Queensland Attendance: 12,470

24 October 1992 2:30PM (GMT)

Great Britain	6–10	Australia
Tries: Goals: Deryck Fox (3/4)	Report[Usurped!]	Tries: Steve Renouf Goals: Mal Meninga (3/4)

Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 73,631[3] Referee: Dennis Hale Player of the Match: Steve Walters

Great Britain

Australia

FB 1 Joe Lydon RW 2 Alan Hunte RC 3 Gary Connolly LC 4 Garry Schofield (c) LW 5 Martin Offiah SO 6 Shaun Edwards SH 7 Deryck Fox PR 8 Kevin Ward HK 9 Martin Dermott PR 10 Andy Platt SR 11 Denis Betts SR 12 Phil Clarke LK 13 Ellery Hanley Substitutions: IC 14 John Devereux IC 15 Alan Tait IC 16 Kelvin Skerrett IC 17 Richard Eyres Coach: Mal Reilly

FB 1 Tim Brasher RW 2 Willie Carne RC 3 Steve Renouf LC 4 Mal Meninga (c) LW 5 Michael Hancock FE 6 Brad Fittler HB 7 Allan Langer PR 8 Glenn Lazarus HK 9 Steve Walters PR 10 Mark Sargent SR 11 Paul Sironen SR 12 Bob Lindner LF 13 Bradley Clyde Substitutions: IC 14 David Gillespie IC 15 Kevin Walters IC 16 John Cartwright IC 17 Chris Johns Coach: Bob Fulton

This match set a new world record attendance for a rugby league international of 73,631, beating the previous record of 70,204 set at the Sydney Cricket Ground during the 1932 Ashes series.[4] As they had done in 1988, Australia won the right to host the World Cup final. However, in the interests of rugby league, and the potential for a much larger attendance since at the time Lang Park in Brisbane could only hold 33,000, and the Sydney Football Stadium could only seat 42,000, the ARL agreed to Great Britain hosting the final at the 82,000 capacity Wembley.

Unlike 1988 when Australia had agreed to let New Zealand host the Final at Eden Park in Auckland due to dwindling international attendances in Australia, the international game had become popular again over the next four years (mainly due to much improved performances by Great Britain and New Zealand) and there was a good chance of sell-out crowd in either Brisbane or Sydney for the game. However, the potential for an attendance at Wembley that would be almost or more than double the size that could be seen in Australia, and the potential exposure from playing the game at one of the world's most iconic stadiums, could not be ignored.

Both coaches picked experienced teams, with only Australian's Tim Brasher (fullback) and Steve Renouf (centre) making their international debut in the game. With incumbent fullback Andrew Ettingshausen unavailable through injury, Australian coach Bob Fulton preferred utility outside back Brasher over Newcastle Knights fullback Brad Godden due to Brasher's previous big game experience having played in Balmain's 1989 Grand Final loss as well as making his State of Origin debut earlier in the year. Fulton also chose seven members from the Brisbane Broncos 1992 Winfield Cup premiership winning team including exciting centre Renouf. Lions coach Mal Reilly chose to retain Garry Schofield as captain despite the presence of Ellery Hanley in the team. He also went with pace on the wings with Martin Offiah and St. Helens flyer Alan Hunte.

The hard-fought final was a one-try affair, with Great Britain 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 Broncos teammate Steve Renouf into a gap not covered by replacement Lions centre John Devereux. Renouf, in his debut test for Australia, then raced 20 metres to score in the corner.[6] Otherwise, the two teams' kickers (Mal Meninga and Deryck Fox) were called upon to score most of the points, including Meninga's pressure sideline conversion of Renouf's try. The rain started pouring in the second half and Australia was able to hold Great Britain out and maintain their lead until the final siren.

Australia's triumph saw them win their fourth World Cup in a row after winning the previous cups in 1975, 1977 and 1988. It also ended a mini-hoodoo for the Kangaroos at London's Wembley Stadium. Australia had previously left the arena 21–12 losers in 1973, and the 1990 Kangaroos were outplayed by Great Britain 19–12, but when it mattered most this time around Australia proved themselves as worthy World Cup champions.

The match was telecast live late at night throughout Australia on the Nine Network, with commentary provided by Ray Warren, Peter Sterling and Paul Vautin, with sideline comments from Chris Bombolas. The game broke Australia's midnight-to-dawn television ratings record which was set a year earlier by the rugby union's 1991 Rugby World Cup final.[7]