Wigan were clearly the dominant club in the English game, having won the previous four consecutive Rugby Football League Championships and Challenge Cup tournaments.

In the World Club Challenge–this time played unusually late in the year–Wigan were looking to get revenge for their loss against Brisbane in the sides' previous encounter, and obtained a strong first-half lead.

A crowd of 54,220,[3] which set the record attendance for a World Club Challenge (which still stands as of 2017), turned out for the game, which was refereed by Greg McCallum.

Wigan's chances didn't look good against a star-studded Broncos side because both of their first-choice test props, Kelvin Skerrett (broken jaw) and Andy Platt had been ruled out as injured.

With the Broncos not being the dominant force they had been in the previous two seasons (though still going well enough to be a top-five team in the NSWRL premiership at that stage), Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett experimented with his lineup somewhat for the game.

In the twenty-seventh minute, Wendell Sailor opened the scoring for Brisbane when he beat Martin Offiah on the wing to put the ball down in the corner.

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.