England’s rugby league team will go into next year’s World Cup without playing a fixture for almost an entire year after it was confirmed there was no room in the 2026 Super League schedule to give the national team a mid-season international break.
Following their whitewash defeat by Australia in the Ashes this month, the England coach Shaun Wane – whose own position is under review – insisted there needed to be more opportunities and priority given to the national team if they are to bridge the gap to the all-conquering Kangaroos.
t next year’s World Cup in Australia, they will have a team severely underprepared. England will have no mid-season training camp or international games of any kind before their opening fixture in the tournament against Tonga in Perth next October.
By then it will be almost a year to the day since England last took to the field for a match. With Super League increasing to 14 teams, Magic Weekend set to remain in the calendar for 2026 and the Grand Final taking place a week earlier due to the World Cup, officials have conceded there is no room for England in the plans.
Instead, Wane will merely be limited to off-feet meetings at hotels with his players, something he admitted this year simply wasn’t enough.
“There is no spare weekend in the calendar,” RL Commercial’s chief executive, Rhodri Jones, said. “There are weekends in Super League when there are no Sunday games, so there is an opportunity for squad gatherings.”
England have previously faced France in mid-season Tests but the Papua New Guinea coach Jason Demetriou – who will be in charge of London Broncos in 2026 – had suggested he would be keen to see the Kumuls face England in the UK as a meaningful warm-up for both nations heading into the World Cup.
However, Jones knocked back suggestions it means England will be underprepared for the tournament. “I wouldn’t say they were,” he said. “It’s up to Super League to deliver the intensity that gets the players ready for that international period.
“I think it’s always well debated about who would we play. Would it be competitive? We’ve had games against France in the past and that there was a lack of contest on the field. With everything it’s if the contest is there on the field, you would look to incorporate it: but the contest isn’t there.”
