But what was happening locally when GB were beating the Kiwis in November, 1993?
There was actually a link because the Fax coach was Malcolm Reilly who was also in charge of the national side.
He had been boss at Thrum Hall since the previous January.
Roger Millward had been sacked a fortnight before Christmas 1992 and at the next board meeting, given the obvious delays surrounding work permits for overseas candidates, the apparently rhetorical question was asked, "Well, who is the best English coach at the moment?"
The RFL were asked their opinion and came up with names like Phil Larder and John Kear.
But Reilly was available as, with no major overseas tours due, he hadn't enough work to justify his full time job at Chapeltown Road.
He made an immediate impact and almost pulled off a major shock when Wigan were very nearly beaten at Thrum Hall in the Challenge Cup in February.
It was in the summer that the drastic surgery began.
Leaving the club were players like Brendan Hill, Peter Bell, Adam Fogerty, Brent Stuart (the latter couple against Reilly's wishes), Greg Austin, David Cooper, Mike McLean and Richard Milner.
The rush was on to sign quality players before other clubs realised they were available and Reilly had some interesting phone numbers in his Filofax.
He and this writer went on a covert operation to sign fullback Steve Hampson at Birch Service Station on the M62.
Robert Atkinson got Michael Jackson's signature on his car bonnet in a similar clandestine trip to a coaching clinic at Lancaster University.
Reilly wanted to sign Wakefield star stand-off Nigel Wright but was thwarted by Wigan so went to Australia to sign Michael Hagan from Newcastle and also came back from Marathon Stadium with John Schuster and David Boyd.
Young talent like Paul Anderson and Lee Harland arrived from Leeds.
The side were unbeaten after six and topped the league but October and November were less than happy.
There was a Monday night loss at Warrington (remember the floodlights going out?), a 22-31 home defeat to Wigan and a worse setback when Castleford came here and won 35-10.
The period ended with a tight win over Keighley in the Regal Trophy.
One young man did directly benefit from Reilly's absence with GB.
That put his assistant Gary Stephens in charge and he was nothing if not loyal. He had persuaded the board to spend £15,000 on three lads called Martyn Smithson, Stuart Arundel and Nicky Render from his previous club Leeds to bolster a depleted squad.
Reilly didn't consider them first team material immediately but "Scatter" did and promptly picked Smithson for a match at Hull KR.
The winning money no doubt came in handy as well.
One other thing to note from November, 1993. The club's first seven home games saw over 50,000 pass through the turnstiles with an average gate of 7,261…