England men’s head coach Brian McDermott has kept faith with his playing group, naming an unchanged 19-man squad for Saturday’s crucial Rugby League World Cup match against France in Perth. <\/p>\n
The decision comes despite a disappointing and historic 30-12 defeat by Tonga in their opening tournament fixture, a result that has severely complicated England\u2019s path and put their hopes of reaching the semi-finals in serious jeopardy. <\/p>\n
AJ Brimson is set to retain his starting role at full-back in the thirteen, while Jack Welsby is once again named among the interchanges. McDermott has resisted the urge to panic or make wholesale personnel changes as his side prepares for the high-stakes Group B-C encounter, which is scheduled to kick off at 07:35 BST.<\/p>\n
The selected England men’s starting thirteen features AJ Brimson, Dom Young, Hugo Savala, Herbie Farnworth, Zach Eckersley, George Williams, and Harry Smith in the spine and outside backs, supported up front and in the pack by Max King, Brad O’Neill, Luke Thompson, Junior Nsemba, Kai Pearce-Paul, and Victor Radley. <\/p>\n
Providing options from the bench, the interchange list includes Jez Litten, Ben Currie, Ethan Havard, Sam Walters, Jack Welsby, and Matty Ashton. Meanwhile, Kallum Watkins, Mikey Lewis, and Ben Talty have been named as the reserves.<\/p>\n
Luke Thompson will continue to anchor the side at prop, with Morgan Knowles remaining unavailable for selection as he continues his recovery from an injury picked up just prior to the opening match against Tonga. <\/p>\n
The squad also continues to exclude Mikey Lewis, whose inclusion in the tournament squad had been heavily debated by pundits and fans alike. Lewis was selected as one of the half-back options ahead of the 2025 Super League Man of Steel, Jake Connor, but has missed out on the matchday line-up once again.<\/p>\n
In the halves, Harry Smith will continue to partner England captain George Williams. The pair faced heavy scrutiny after being outplayed and overpowered by a formidable Tongan side last weekend, but McDermott has backed his playmakers to bounce back under pressure.<\/p>\n
That opening weekend loss marked England’s first-ever defeat against Tonga, leaving McDermott’s squad facing an uphill battle to secure a spot in the knockout stages. To stand a realistic chance of progression, England must win their remaining two group fixtures. Following Saturday’s match against France, they will face Papua New Guinea on 30 October. Because of the unique format of this year’s Rugby League World Cup, England will likely need to win both fixtures by commanding margins to boost their points difference.<\/p>\n
Even if England manage to secure victories in both games, their fate may remain out of their hands for days. There is a strong possibility that the final group standings will not be mathematically confirmed until two days after their final group game, when Tonga face 2022 finalists Samoa in a blockbuster final round fixture.<\/p>\n
In stark contrast to the stability shown by the men’s coaching staff, England women’s head coach Stuart Barrow has opted for a major selection shake-up ahead of their high-profile clash against co-hosts Australia on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Nineteen-year-old Jenna Foubister has been handed a starting berth at half-back, replacing Georgia Roche. Foubister earned the promotion after a phenomenal domestic campaign in the Super League, which culminated in her being crowned the Woman of Steel. <\/p>\n
The teenager, who famously scored on her international debut during a dominant 62-0 victory over Wales in August 2025, will partner Izzy Rowe in the halves. Rowe put on a masterclass in England’s opening World Cup fixture, scoring two tries and kicking nine conversions for a personal haul of 26 points as England crushed Wales 70-6 last Saturday. With that performance, Rowe equalled the all-time record for the most points scored by an individual England player in a Women’s World Cup match.<\/p>\n
Foubister and Rowe are not the only changes to the starting line-up, as Barrow has made two further adjustments to his thirteen. Molly Jones comes into the side to replace Georgia Wilson in the centres, while Liv Wood gets the nod at prop ahead of Mary Coleman. <\/p>\n
Lucie Sams has been named among the interchanges as England prepare to face reigning champions Australia at Perth. The match is scheduled for a 10:05 BST kick-off, following directly after the conclusion of the men’s fixture. <\/p>\n
Saturday’s encounter carries significant psychological weight for England, as it will be their first meeting with Australia since they suffered a record-breaking 90-4 defeat in Las Vegas in March 2025. <\/p>\n
The England women’s matchday squad features Fran Goldthorpe, Anna Davies, Molly Jones, Connie Boyd, Amelia Brown, Izzy Rowe, and Jenna Foubister in the starting line-up, supported by forwards and impact players Liv Wood, Keara Bennett, Hollie-Mae Dodd, Jasmin Strange, Eva Hunter, and Megan Williams. <\/p>\n
The interchange bench consists of experienced campaigners Jodie Cunningham and Vicky Whitfield, alongside Georgia Roche and Lucie Sams. Mary Coleman, Georgia Wilson, and Lucy Murray complete the squad as reserves.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere in the women’s tournament, Wales are preparing to face Samoa on Friday at 07:50 BST for what will be only the second World Cup match in their history. Following their heavy opening defeat, Wales coach Thomas Brindle has opted to shuffle his pack, making several alterations to his team.<\/p>\n
Amberley Ruck comes into the side to replace Ffion Lewis, while Zoe Heeley shifts from the centre position out to the wing. Jade Mullen is introduced to the starting thirteen in the centres, and Sian Williams also earns a start on the wing. <\/p>\n
These adjustments mean that wingers Dani McGifford and Frances Layton, both of whom started in the opening match against England, drop out of the initial thirteen. Layton has been named among the interchanges alongside Gracie Hobbs, with Katie Carr dropping out of the matchday squad entirely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
England men’s head coach Brian McDermott has kept faith with his playing group, naming an unchanged 19-man squad for Saturday’s crucial Rugby League World Cup match against France in Perth. The decision comes despite a disappointing and historic 30-12 defeat by Tonga in their opening tournament fixture, a result that has severely complicated England\u2019s path […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":3120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[705],"tags":[707,3369,1551,2805,1932,4738,709,708,821,1499,262,706,1291,1395,4737,902,333],"class_list":["post-3121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-athletics","tag-australia","tag-bold","tag-changes","tag-clash","tag-crucial","tag-england","tag-games","tag-make","tag-name","tag-scores","tag-sports","tag-squad","tag-test","tag-unchanged","tag-women","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcjsj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcjsj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcjsj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcjsj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcjsj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tcjsj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcjsj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcjsj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcjsj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcjsj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}