Just one game into the 2026 Rugby League World Cup and England are facing the prospect of an early exit. That’s how it goes sometimes.
Progression to the semi-final stage of the World Cup is now out of their hands due to a 30-12 loss to Tonga in their opening game and it leaves them vulnerable to being dumped out of the tournament even if they were to win their two remaining group matches.
That is down to the structure of the pools with Group B and Group C both featuring three teams but being collected as one full table of six. The teams in Group B (England, Samoa and Lebanon) each play the teams in Group C (Tonga, France and Papa New Guinea).
Samoa’s 78-4 hammering of France means that England need Tonga to beat them heavily and that they can then score more points than Samoa at the end of the three group games.
It leaves England head coach, Brian McDermott, in a tough spot. He must encourage constant attacking threat without leaving England vulnerable to being beaten. That’s not the most practical of positions to find yourself in.
Analysing the performance against Tonga and it’s clear that England made too many ball-handling errors and couldn’t capitalise at the end of sets. Still, there was encouragement to be found in England’s opening display with McDermott pleased at how his team played the type of style he wants to see.
“On occasions, I think we opened up in that first 20 and whether we went through the middle or went through the edge, we found ourselves in a good ball position. We had some scrappy finishes to those good ball sets,” McDermott said.
“We wanted to put a load of fatigue into Tonga and credit to Tonga as well. I thought they were terrific defensively in terms of breaching their line and cracking their line open. I thought we did that two or three times in that first half, but they came up with some try-saving tackles.
“The fact that we didn't score on the try-line doesn’t suggest that our game plan needs to change. We’ve just got to be more patient and knock off the ball as much as we can.”
McDermott’s comments would suggest a similar modus operandi for Saturday’s crunch clash against France. England had a clear plan against Tonga, which was to utilise second phase play and offload the ball. That created space and opportunity for them, but they struggled and lacked creativity inside the final 20 metres. A similar tactic, with fewer errors and more invention near the try line could be the key to striking gold asking a hurting French team.
France conceded 14 times against Samoa who, for most of the game, seemed far quicker and more able to physically assert themselves. France’s head coach Laurent Frayssinous reasoned afterwards that those differences were because Samoa’s players hail mostly from the NRL which he described as a “step up” from Super League where most of the French players ply their trade.
“The NRL keeps growing and keeps getting better every year,” Frayssinous said. “Watching NRL every year, it's at the top, at the top, at the top. A step up, step up, step up.
“Super League is [getting] better every year, but not as fast as the NRL. The smartness, the skill the guys have under pressure, the touches, week in, week out, that’s something we need to improve in Super League, simple as that.”
So how will France fare against an England squad also populated by Super League stars?
Well, history is not on their side and recent matches have heavily swayed in favour of McDermott’s men with England securing a 40-8 victory away from home in 2024, a 64-0 win in 2023 and a 42-18 triumph when the two sides met at the 2022 World Cup.
That puts them as overwhelming favourites to win but the necessity to also accumulate a huge score and present themselves with World Cup lifeline could be see them overplay their hand. That is something McDermott has warned against.
“We know what’s in front of us now. We’ve got to win the next two games. We’ve got to improve on the things that we need to improve upon,” McDermott explained.
“I've just been said about not chasing points and not chasing scoreboards. We certainly don't want to trip ourselves up.”
England face France in Perth on Saturday 24 October with kick off at 7.35am GST.