1992 New Zealand rugby league season

The New Zealand national rugby league team defeated the touring Papua New Guinea side 66-10 before drawing a Test series against the Great Britain Lions 1-all. They first defeated Great Britain 15–14 in Palmerston North before losing the second Test 16–19 at Carlaw Park.

Coached by new coach Howie Tamati and managed by Richard Bolton, the squad for the three Test matches was: Matthew Ridge, Richard Blackmore, Gary Freeman, Dean Clark, Tony Kemp, Sean Hoppe, Daryl Halligan, Gavin Hill, Brent Stuart, Duane Mann, Brent Todd, Kevin Iro, Quentin Pongia, Brendon Tuuta, Mark Woods, Tea Ropati, Mike Kuiti and Tawera Nikau.

Before the Test matches the Possibles drew with the Probables 20-all in a Kiwis trial. Craig Innes was the surprise inclusion in the Probables team.[1]

Papua New Guinea played four matches in New Zealand. They first lost to a Hawke's Bay XIII 14-10 before defeating the Kiwi Colts (under 23's) 36–16. They then lost 43-36 to a Northland XIII before losing the Test match 66–10. The Kumuls then headed to Australia for a three match tour. Both Invitational sides were coached by Gary Kemble while Joe Gwyne coached the Kiwi Colts. Hawke's Bay included Tukere Barlow while Northland included Jason Mackie.

Great Britain then arrived after thirteen games in Australia and Papua New Guinea. They opened their tour with a 14–8 defeat of Auckland, their first victory over Auckland since 1979.[2] The Kiwis won the first Test, coming from 14-6 behind for a 15–14 victory. The Lions then defeated Canterbury 17-6 before winning the second Test 19-16 to tie the series and finish the tour.

Three more high-profile New Zealand rugby union players switched to rugby league during the year. They were Craig Innes (Leeds), Eion Crossan (South Sydney) and Gavin Hill (Canterbury-Bankstown). Hill played for the Kiwis after only 10 first grade games of rugby league.

New Zealand hosted the Pacific Cup. The tournament was won by Western Samoa, who defeated Tonga 18–14 in the final at Carlaw Park, after double extra time. The New Zealand Māori squad, who finished third, consisted of Peter Edwards, Richie Barnett, Whetu Taewa, Ruben Wiki, Jason Kaulima, David Ewe, David Bailey, Dean Clark, Ken McIntosh, Daryl Beazley, Mark Chambers, John Lomax, Syd Eru, Tukere Barlow, captain Mark Woods and Jason Mackie.[3] Quentin Pongia was unavailable.

The Junior Kiwis hosted the Australian Schoolboys in September. The Schoolboys opened the tour by defeating a Taranaki XIII 60-6 before defeating the Junior Kiwis 26–24 in the first "Test". They then defeated the Auckland under-19s, who were missing their Junior Kiwis representatives, 32–12. In the final game of the tour, the Junior Kiwis defeated the Australian Schoolboys 36–14. The match was the first the Schoolboys had lost to either New Zealand or Great Britain since 1972. The Junior Kiwis were coached by Frank Endacott and named the same side for both matches. The team was: Justin Paul, Gafa Tuiloma, Tana Umaga, Ruben Wiki, Peter Lima, Gene Ngamu, Tane Manihere, David Fatialofa, Brady Malam, Barry Feuu, Joe Vagana, Willie Poching, Martin Moana. Bench: Shannon Lee, Aaron Lester, Alex Chan and Tony Togia.

Meti Noovao played for the Auckland under-19s. Frank Watene, captain David Kidwell and Phillip Shead were all named in the New Zealand under-15 team. Billy Weepu, Gus Malietoa-Brown, Robbie Paul, Danny Lima and Awen Guttenbeil all made the under-17 team.

New Zealand referee Dennis Hale became the first referee to control six Test matches in a twelve-month period between 1991 and 1992. Hale also equaled the record of five Test matches within a calendar year.[4]

Dean Bell was the New Zealand Rugby League's player of the year.[5] Ray Haffenden was voted onto the New Zealand Rugby League's board during the year, while former Kiwi Ken Stirling was one of the four directors who lost their positions.

Twenty Five New Zealand players played in the Winfield Cup in 1992. Gary Freeman won the Dally M Medal for the Eastern Suburbs Roosters. The other twenty four players were; Eion Crossan (Souths), Ali Davys (Gold Coast), Jason Donnelly (St George), Stu Galbraith (Parramatta), Daryl Halligan (Norths), Gavin Hill (Canterbury), Sean Hoppe (Canberra), Mark Horo (Parramatta), Kevin Iro (Manly), Tony Iro (Manly), Stephen Kearney (Wests), Tony Kemp (Newcastle), Jarrod McCracken (Canterbury), Gene Ngamu (Manly), Matthew Ridge (Manly), John Schuster (Newcastle), Kurt Sherlock (Easts), Paul Simonsson (Norths), Sam Stewart (Newcastle), Brent Todd (Gold Coast), Aaron Whittaker (Illawarra), Darrell Williams (Manly), Jason Williams (Canterbury) and Iain Wood (Gold Coast).

Eight of the Sixteen Winfield Cup teams played matches in New Zealand, including both semi finals of the pre-season Tooheys Challenge Cup. The Brisbane Broncos defeated the Western Suburbs Magpies at Athletic Park while the Illawarra Steelers defeated the Cronulla Sharks at Carlaw Park. The Manly Sea Eagles then took their first round match against the Newcastle Knights to Carlaw Park, the first time a Winfield Cup match had been held in New Zealand.

During the pre season, Hugh McGahan ended his career in Christchurch, playing for the Eastern Suburbs Roosters as they defeated a South selection 28–4. The Manly Sea Eagles defeated a Hawke's Bay-Wellington Invitational XIII team 42–2 in Hastings and the Canberra Raiders defeated Auckland 32–14 at Carlaw Park in front of a capacity 17,000 crowd.