WCC History: 1976-2026 By Matches

This is mainly a 'detail' article. For those who want to see all the matches in detail, please look at the lower chart. Yellow is played in Australia, blue for England. HS means home team score and AS away team score. HW means hemisphere win, A and E is self explanatory. 

Before that is a clarification chart. Many feel that if more matches were played in Australia, then they would have done better. I think that is correct but not to an extreme degree. 

Below we see three rows. The first shows all 30 matches played, with England having a 53% win rate. Then matches played in Australia, five with a 60% success rate. Third, games played in England and Engalnd managing a 56% win rate.

From this we see that while the sample for Australia is low, they have lost two of them. In fact, while England has done better at home as expected, the percentage difference is surprisingly close. 

A larger number of games in Australia would surely have increased the percentage in that country's favour. Yet, it's by no means a given that they would have won an overwhelming number of them.

Please note: Any series or matches involving more than the top two from each country are not included here.

WCC History: 1976-2026 By Club

The World Club Challenge is the top club from Australia and England start the new season with a match to determine the world champion. It is taken much more seriously in the UK whereas some in the Antipodes feel they are the best, so why bother?

Well, there have been 30 years that games have been played. A few seasons had more than one match, which clashes with the objective of finding the best team in the world so they are not counted. Neither is the 1997 year when it wasn't a one off top v top clash. This summary covers the top two from each region played. 

So how have individual clubs fared in the competition? I'm glad you asked, as I have prepared a chart to show exactly that. Look to the right. It is colour coded according to hemisphere.

Wigan have played nine matches over the years and have won five for a 56% win rate. St Helens and Leeds are next with eight appearances each but with a poorer 38% success rate. I obviously haven't been paying attention because I though they had been better than that. 

The Bradford Bulls have the best UK win rate for a side appearing more than once, three from three.

Three Aussie sides have been involved five times each. The Sydney Roosters are the masters at it, winning all that they have been involved with. Melbourne had one victory struck off for salary breaches, but I ignored that. 

The  Penrith Panthers have failed at all four attempts. Five Australian clubs have failed on a single attempt. 

WCC : 2026

Each year, the top sides from Australia and the UK play the World Club Challenge. It is usually played in the UK, so a little bit of advantage there, although UK sides have gone Down Under and won. 

This year it was Hull KR from the UK hosting the Brisbane Broncos from Australia. It was Hull KR's first appearance and Brisbane's 8th. 

It is acknowledged that the game in Australia is stronger due to a larger player pool and financially better off. RL in the UK struggles to put money into player development.  

So how did the 2026 edition go? See the highlights below to find out.