The Vector

Rugby league World Cup begins across three host nations

Australia face New Zealand in Sydney as the men’s tournament opens a month of international competition.

The 2026 Rugby League World Cup begins on Thursday with Australia playing New Zealand in Sydney. The tournament brings men’s, women’s and wheelchair competitions to venues in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

The opening men’s match is scheduled for 20:05 local time at Allianz Stadium, with Australia facing New Zealand. Kick-off is listed as 09:05 UK time. Australia are the defending men’s champions, while New Zealand enter the tournament as one of the leading sides in the international game.

The tournament’s first round continues on Friday with Samoa against France in Sydney. Papua New Guinea then host Lebanon in Port Moresby on Saturday, before England meet Tonga at HBF Park in Perth. The International Rugby League’s fixtures list also includes women’s matches during the opening weekend, including England against Wales.

The competition is being staged across three countries, with matches in Australian cities, Christchurch in New Zealand and Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. The arrangement gives the organisers a chance to present the sport across several established rugby league markets, while also placing one of the tournament’s central venues in the Pacific.

The men’s draw contains ten teams. The women’s and wheelchair tournaments each have eight teams, and the competitions are being run as part of the same World Cup programme. The wheelchair matches begin later in the month, while the men’s and women’s finals are scheduled for Brisbane on 15 November.

For England, the men’s opening fixture against Tonga will be the first major test of a campaign that has been shaped by the tournament’s reduced format and by the strength of Pacific nations. England reached the men’s final at the 2021 World Cup, played in 2022, but Australia won that tournament. The current event is the first men’s World Cup since the competition was moved from France after the original host withdrew.

The tournament also carries a broadcasting question for British supporters. International Rugby League announced last month that Premier Sports had secured exclusive broadcast rights for the United Kingdom and Ireland. That gives the competition a dedicated rights holder, but it also means access differs from the previous World Cup, when matches were available through a broader free-to-air arrangement.

The opening fixture is therefore more than a single international match. It is the first public test of a tournament that has been rescheduled, compressed and distributed across a wide region. Its success will be measured not only by results but also by attendance, visibility and whether the three-host model strengthens the international game after years of disruption to its calendar.

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