SPORTING IMAGES / Those memorable moments that lit up the world of sport in 1992: Rugby League: Renouf breaks British hearts

THERE can be few doubts about the pivotal moment of the year for British rugby league. It came shortly after 4pm on 24 October at Wembley and it broke 73,000 hearts, writes Dave Hadfield.

Great Britain were leading Australia 6-4 in the final of the game's World Cup, a convoluted, four-year-long tournament which had finally yielded a climax to seize the imagination.

Australia had played three warm-up matches and had looked as powerful as ever. But, with a mere 13 minutes to play at Wembley, three Deryck Fox penalties, allied to some splendid defence, had put Britain within sight of victory. And within seconds, it was gone.

The disaster began with Alan Hunte, one of the success stories of 1992, a back of genuine class and versatility. Commendably, he came inside on the first tackle to help his over-worked forwards drive out of their 25, just as a conscientious wing is meant to do. Catastrophically, he braced himself for a ball-and-all tackle from Allan Langer; when he was cut down in mid-shin, he lost his balance and the ball.

No sooner had Australia regained the ball than Kevin Walters flung a perfect pass to Steve Renouf, who exploited the gap left by a mis-timed tackle from John Devereux, another of the British game's outstanding talents, to score the only try of the match and retain the cup.

Britain applied some pressure in the final minutes, but had not done enough to deserve to win. In some ways, the try - banal as it was from a British viewpoint - summed up the differences between rugby league's two leading countries.

The try-scoring move was a mark of Australia's greater enterprise on the day. And the fact that it involved two young players drafted in to replace absent stars underlined the fact that they still have more talent to draw upon.