While this is a new championship, there were one off championship games between the Philippines and Thailand in 2012 and 2013. The Philippines won both, 86-0 and 44-10. That was the end of that until 2025 when four nations competed in the Philippines.
This new competition included Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines and Singapore. The first round winners went into the final, while the two losing teams played the 3rd / 4th place game. The two best sides may not make the final but keeping the tournament to three days meant that compromise was necessary.
In this instance, it was likely the two best sides did qualify for the final, going by the scorelines. As it turned out, Japan narrowly defeated Hong Kong 34-30 and Singapore overwhelmed the hosts Philippines 62-0 after leading 44-0 at the break.
It is hoped that Malaysia and Thailand will join for the next edition. It's a nice addition to the RL international scene which has over the years been badly neglected.
This will be the 5th wheelchair WC, going back to 2008. England and France have won two each. It's not like Australia not to be leading in the sport and they are working overtime playing catch up. They will be serious challengers for the trophy this time.
The semi finalists from the last tournament were automatic qualifiers. One each from the hemispheres (NZ and the USA) were then invited. Finally, two were selected from Europe based on matches played since the last tournament (Ireland and Scotland).
This is the only part of international RL that the Northern Hemisphere leads in terms of numbers playing and the standard it's played at.
This will be the 7th Women's WC to be held, the original going back to 2000. NZ won the fisrt three and Australia the next three. Ten sides competed last time and the hope was to expand that number, but it has been reduced to eight.
The two groups are to the right. Even with the reduced number, there will be blow out scores. The quickly improving Southern Hemisphere standard will ensure that.
Four qualifiers came through the previous tournament placings. Two each from qualifying in their respective hemispheres. I recall Brazil and Canada were two women's sides that performed well last time.
This will be the 17th men's tournament, going back to 1954. The 2025 WC was to be held in France, with 16 men's teams, plus women and wheelchair tournaments included. France pulled out of the hosting role so it was moved to the Southern Hemisphere. The date was moved back to 2026 and the number of men's teams was reduced to 10.
There are three groups as seen to the right. So that all teams play three group games, Groups B and C play a side from the other group.
England-France, Lebanon-PNG and Samoa-Tonga are the swap over matches. Then on to the semi finals and grand final.
The last competition featured 16 teams but it was decided to go with 10 as it will enhance the financial return and reduce blow out scores. The ten were decided by the top two group finishes in the previous WC (eight), with a Northern and Southern Hemisphere qualifier through an elimination process.
Using the same format as the men's competition, it was divided into a Cup and Bowl. Australia, NZ and Samoa were the Cup competitors. The Cook Is, Tonga and Fiji the Bowl teams.
Cup: NZ was pushed hard in the opener, scraping home 22-18 against Samoa. Australia then easily defeated Samoa 60-0, a bizarre sin binning against Samoa thankfully not affecting the outcome. NZ then went close to an upset, falling short 4-10 to Australia.
The final was expected to go Australia's way and it did. Two sin binning calls handed out to NZ, helping the Australian cause. The NZ side tried but as not up to the task.
Bowl: I had no idea who would win this. The Cook Is team was the surprise package, winning both its games to win the competition. This meant the third game was the decider as to who would come second and third. Tonga won that 42-6.
The 2025 series was without Australia because they were touring England. Instead, the Cup had NZ, Tonga and Samoa. PNG, Fiji and the Cook Is made up the Bowl competition.
Cup: The first match was a close encounter with the Kiwis scraping home against a fired up Samoa. Then both of those teams had comfortable wins over a disappointing Tonga, their coach saying they played well below their potential.
The final was expected to be close and in the frist half it was just that. However, the Kiwis took control in the second half and ran away with the match. The highlights are below.
Bowl: There is no final for this tournament, the winner decided over three rounds. Fiji got a good win over the Cook Is and then PNG did likewise despite the Cook Is team performing much better. The third game was effectively a final between the two unbeaten sides. PNG was far too strong, even allowing for Fiji missing a couple of experienced players.
There won't be a 2026 competition due to the World Cup being held.
The term 'Ashes' comes from the game of Cricket and was carried over to Rugby League. There has to be at least three matches for the term to be used. In typical RL fashion, the Ashes series has been a bit haphazard. It's been over twenty years since the last series was held.
The first Ashes Tour was in 1908/09, which England won 2-1. The series had been won 20 to 19 in Australia's favour going into this series. England dominated the earlier part of its being contested, then Australia returned the favour in more recent times.
On to 2025, where Australia never dominated but was able to do enough to win. The scorelines may suggest otherwise but England fought hard and made the tourists work for their 3-0 series whitewash.
England could have even won the series but for one telling reason. Failing to turn effort and field position into points. Averaging six points per match is never going to win you anything. Huffing and puffing only gets you so far.
Australia will accept they weren't at their best in the series but they had a stoic defence and enough attacking skill to do the business. The last score on particular of 30-8 was flattering to the winner, yet it summed up the series succinctly.
I'm not into bagging coaches but I will make an exception here. England's Shaun Wane is full of passion but he is deficient in decision making. Surely his tenure is over and England will be the better for his departure. I don't particularly rate the Australian coach either but the players are good enough to do the business anyway. England were not good enough to do the same.
It's been a relatively quiet calendar for wheelchair RL this year. Six fixtures that I am aware of. Let me know if I've missed any. The Celtic nations provided four of them and a tour by England to Australia being the other two.
The Celtic Cup was won by Ireland, Wales was second and Scotland third. I expected Wales to take this one but Ireland were clearly the best side. Scotland and Ireland then played a friendly later in the year.
Australia were late to get into the wheelchair version of the game and has been well beaten in the past. A top player from England has been coaching Down Under added to a determination to catch up, the series looked promising.
The video above shows highlights of the first test. England rallied late to run away with it but there was a big improvement shown there by the hosts. The second international looked like being an upset to Australia but a late rally and England just got home.
I'm surprised there wasn't a game between the two heavyweights of this form of the game, England and France. Hopefully that will be addressed in 2026.
