After a miserable Rugby League World Cup campaign for England’s men’s and women’s teams — historically early exits and soul-searching reviews to follow — there is still one England side that can bring the trophy home: the wheelchair rugby league team, reigning world champions and aiming for the final on November 13.
England’s wheelchair rugby league team in action (Credits: BBC Sport)
England began their 2026 Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup campaign in style, thrashing Wales 98-18 at the Win Entertainment Centre in Wollongong. They face the USA next in Group A on Tuesday, looking for another statement win.
England’s record in the wheelchair Rugby League World Cup
This is the fifth staging of the wheelchair tournament, and England have never failed to reach the final — winning twice, in 2008 and on home ground four years ago, when they beat France 28-24 in Manchester. The current squad is led by Rob Hawkins, who this year won the Wheels of Steel award as the best player in the Wheelchair Super League.
The 25-year-old helped Halifax Panthers win the Grand Final and was part of England’s 2022 triumph. He stamped his authority on this tournament immediately, scoring 11 of England’s 18 tries in the opener against Wales.
France stand in England’s way again
The supporting cast is a remarkable mix: Luis Domingos, an ex-Portugal basketball international who switched sports and countries; Jack Brown, who gave up a full-time welding job in Queensland’s mines for the sport; and Finlay O’Neill, who was told at 16 he could never play rugby league again after dislocating his knee — only to find wheelchair rugby league “even better” and, he says, “a blessing.”
England’s main rivals are France, their opponents in the past three finals — the French winning in 2013 and 2017 before England’s 2022 revenge. Third-ranked Ireland are genuine contenders too, while hosts Australia have their strongest-ever squad and could yet sweep the men’s, women’s and wheelchair tournaments for the first time by any nation.
But if England’s rugby league fans are searching for hope down under, this is where it lives: reigning champions, unbeaten in group openers, and a squad that knows exactly how to win finals.
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Source: BBC Sport — read the full story there.
