Rugby League World Cup

Updates as the Rugby League World Cup kicks off with hosts England facing Samoa in Newcastle; kick-off is at 2.30pm; reigning champions Australia face Fiji ...

More teams than ever will compete for the men's trophy, with four groups of four nations competing in stadia across England, while the women's and wheelchair ...

People who aren't disabled are welcome to compete in this sport, while both men and women can play in the same team. - France - England

The host nation could provide rugby league with the defining moment that could breath new life into the sport.

A successful World Cup on home soil – for the men’s, women’s and wheelchair England teams – can only help. If England finish second in Group A, they will face the winners of Group D – likely to be Tonga, who have emerged as a coming force in recent years and are best avoided. For not since 1972, and then in the guise of Great Britain, has a team from these shores won the Rugby League World Cup. It has been a white-knuckle ride and last year’s bitter war of words – after Australia and New Zealand refused to travel to England – sparked fears the World Cup could be scrapped altogether. Whether there is sufficient strength in depth to topple the likes of Australia and New Zealand when it really matters remains to be seen. After seven years, four Prime Ministers, a pandemic, tournament postponement, change of Monarchy and cost of living crisis, the 2021 Rugby League World Cup is finally here.

Shaun Wane's hosts get their Rugby League World Cup campaign underway against Matt Parish's much-fancied Samoa in a Group A encounter.

There are hopes this can become the most-attended edition of the RLWC in tournament history - and if this one gets off to a flier, they may be well-founded. 75 mins to KO: Hello, one and all, and welcome to the 2021 Rugby League World Cup! 45 mins to KO: England are in the house and soaking it up. Farnworth darts after it and seems to get it down - we'll go to the video referee. He thinks he has a case - but the original decision stands, and they lose it for the rest of the match! HT: Do England have enough in the tank to see off a Samoa comeback? A penalty marches England downfield, and they work it wide to the left. Young brings St James' Park to life with a run down the right flank and earns a six-again call after he is held down. England monster a 40-20 to get themselves deep downfield in the final minute, and the veteran prop just runs over the returning Milford to dot down. Williams puts Makinson away on the wing, where he dodges an attempt to take him into touch, and he flicks a pass - one that certainly looked dubiously forward - inside to Whitehead for his brace. Shaun Wane's side sail to the top of Group A straight out of the gate and throw down a gauntlet for everyone else. FT: Eight different England players got on the scoresheet, but the man of the match is not one of them - it goes to Radley, the Australian-born loose-forward who helped power this pack around the pitch.

Northern hemisphere teams once held their own in rugby league, but they are not producing enough players to keep up.

Scotland coach Nathan Graham sounded excited this week at that prospect, given that Hayward, who would have been in the Scotland squad last year too, has won Canterbury Bulldogs Under-20 player of the year award and been promoted to their NRL squad for 2023. To the contrary, the lure of starting a new life in England and Australia – where the vast majority of rugby league professionals are nurtured – has lessened for several European countries. For example, the Italian, Scottish and Greek immigrants who went to Australia and New Zealand in the second world war or the 1950s are the grandparents of the current players. Of the Scotland team that day, only Ferguson, Matty Russell and Kane Linnett are in the squad at this World Cup and could meet the two Italian veterans Dean Parata and Brenden Santi again on Sunday. Even without the inspirational impact of their NRL stars waving the flag, the diasporas of Tonga, Samoa and Fiji are growing in Australia and New Zealand. We’ve also got to change the processes and pathways programme, coaching the coaches and officials in the grassroots game, and most importantly the players. “Every player in this squad is really proud of their heritage and we’ve got to feed that back to the kids at home. France have the next best thing – a team of Super League pros – but they are in a tough group. The make-up of squads at this World Cup is in stark contrast to the 2000 tournament, which had more Super League players than NRL players. In Super League in 2020, 80% of the 105 players who played in those key positions were products of the British game, and only 29 had played for countries other than England: six were French, four from Scotland, and three from Ireland. Between lockdown and the play-offs, 30% of the 125 players to play in positions 1, 6, 7 and 9 in the NRL had been either capped by a country other than Australia, or were born elsewhere – mainly in the Pacific countries - and therefore likely to play for them soon. It is also key to look at the players teams have in the decision-making positions of full-back, scrum-half, stand-off and hooker.

It may not be the national sport in Wales, but Welsh rugby league will take to the biggest stage over the next couple of weeks. Wales are in action on Wednesday ...

You can live stream the game on BBC iPlayer, but you will need a TV licence and BBC login. Wales are in action on Wednesday, October 19, at 7.30PM at Leigh Sports Village against Cook Islands. England v Samoa will be broadcast live on BBC One. What TV channel is England v Samoa on? What time is England v Samoa kick-off? England v Samoa kicks off at 2.30pm local time on Saturday, October 15.

England open the tournament with a daunting clash against the highly-fancies Samoans.

It will be the only place you can watch the game today from the UK. Today's coverage begins at 1.15 PM on BBC1, meaning there will be over an hour's worth of coverage before the game begins. England, head into the tournament without a number of their star players including Jonny Lomax, Alex Walmsley, Liam Farrell and Mark Percival while John Bateman is suspended. The match is set to take place in front of a bumper crowd and get the competition off with a bang between two of the favourites to win the competition. The BBC will be broadcasting every single match from this year's men's, women's and wheelchair tournaments, meaning fans won't miss a second of the action. It will be the first of 61 matches from three different competition's to be shown on the BBC, with the broadcaster showing every single game from the Men's, Women's and Wheelchair tournaments.

Minute-by-minute report: Will England start off their Rugby League World Cup campaign with a win? Join Daniel Gallan to find out.

Samoa get a fresh set of six and have crept inside the England 22. The PA system has failed and now we’ll get a delayed start to the match. But is he in control of the ball? He gets a great pass from Welsby, and it was poor defence from Samoa who seemed to switch off, but that is the score of a star in the making. They don’t seem to have a plan and it’s all first phase rugby at the minute. Tomkins collects well under the high ball and sets off on a counter. Williams gets the pass against the grain and burst through a challenge. Samoa keep the ball and stab a kick through. They kick away the ball when they have to but Samoa are right against their own line. He drops the ball though and England go back. I was on the same page but England have kept it tight and have actually been the more threatening in the wide areas. A forced turnover from England to get the ball back.

England and Samoa will get the Rugby League World Cup off to a cracking start in what could be one of the most important games of the group stage.

[Josh Papalii](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/josh-papalii/) 9. [Thomas Burgess](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/thomas-burgess/) 9. [England](https://www.zerotackle.com/rugby-league/international-teams/england/) [George Williams](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/george-williams/) 8. [Jack Welsby](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/jack-welsby/) 7. [Dominic Young](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/dominic-young/) 6. [Tommy Makinson](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/tommy-makinson/) 3. [Samoa](https://www.zerotackle.com/rugby-league/international-teams/samoa/). [England](https://www.zerotackle.com/rugby-league/international-teams/england/) to kick us off. [England](https://www.zerotackle.com/rugby-league/international-teams/england/) are in again! [Tommy Makinson](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/tommy-makinson/) converts. [Samoa](https://www.zerotackle.com/rugby-league/international-teams/samoa/) now on the attack.

Newcastle will host the biggest tournament in Rugby League with events taking place in the city centre alongside the opening game.

Rugby League fans will be treated to a big Newcastle United welcome as the first game of the World Cup kicks off at St James' Park. The opening game will see England take on Samoa to kick off the sport’s World Cup tournament from the heart of Newcastle. The Rugby League World Cup has provided us with this guide. A Fan Village has been set up on the “It’s England’s Rugby League World Cup opener and is at the sporting cathedral that is St James’ Park. Newcastle Thunder head coach and proud Geordie Chris Thorman admits he cannot wait to see England open their World Cup campaign at his beloved St James’ Park tomorrow. It’s an event that should be supported by the locals and is looking like it will be. [St James’ Park](https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/all-about/st-james-park) hosting the opening game which will see England take on Samoa. [St James’ Park](https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/all-about/st-james-park) for the opening ceremony and first match. Newcastle will be centre stage for the biggest tournament in the Rugby League, with Newcastle will be centre stage for the biggest tournament in Rugby League, with The Rugby League World Cup kicks off this weekend with thousands of fans making their way to

Kallum Watkins helped England run riot in the second half, as fellow centre Herbie Farnworth, Elliott Whitehead - twice - Tommy Makinson, George Williams and ...

Samoa head coach Matt Parish said: "England had momentum and we couldn't swing it back. "We knew they were going to come out firing and they did. "Samoa were a bit off today but our defence put them off. They had close calls before converting their opener courtesy of Jack Welsby running through. "I just wanted to win the game and we did it in such a good manner but we will face tougher tests." But England shook off any fears of a losing start to the tournament by dominating the contest and running in 10 tries in their toughest group game.

LIVE World Cup: Nanai scores on debut as Kangaroos take lead in tight clash with Fiji.

England had gone into the match at St James' Park as underdogs against a Samoan team boasting six members of Penrith Panthers' recent NRL Grand Final-winning ...

I know nobody gave us a chance of winning the game but within our group and the tight team spirit that we had, we knew how we’d trained and what we could do. It was a tough call for me. “It was real difficult for me leaving those players out. Makinson converted to take England out to 24-6, and then hit his second penalty after the sin-binning of Samoa playmaker Milford for a late hit on Tomkins. Dom Young scored two superb tries to help England to a 60-6 thrashing of Samoa in the opening game of the Rugby League World Cup in Newcastle. “I just wanted to win the game and we did it in such a good manner.

Moments later, Latrell Mitchell finishes off a cracking long-range Australian try. There's a lovely dummy from Cam Munster who flicks a pass to Josh Addo-Carr ...

Moments later, Latrell Mitchell finishes off a cracking long-range Australian try. Australia are in again. Semi Valemei just can’t get a pass away quick enough to Maiko Sivo on the left wing. Australia 24, Fiji 4 after 52 minutes He’ll take no further part in the match. Harry Grant has had a fantastic game.

The pre-tournament show is halted just minutes before the opening game between England and Samoa.

Prior to the technical breakdown, former Leeds and England scrum-half Rob Burrow received a rapturous welcome from the 40,000-plus crowd as he launched the 2021 Rugby League World Cup. The pre-tournament show was brought to an abrupt end just minutes before the opening game between England and Samoa. Rock band Kaiser Chiefs had to think on their feet after a broken public address system delayed the Rugby League World Cup opening ceremony.