2025 England wheelchair rugby league tour of Australia
| 2025 England wheelchair rugby league tour | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | 24 October 2025 – 2 November 2025 | ||||
| Summary |
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| Total |
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| Test match |
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| Opponent |
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| New South Wales |
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| Queensland |
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| Australia |
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| Tour chronology | |||||
| Previous tour | 2019 | ||||
| Next tour | – | ||||
The 2025 England wheelchair rugby league tour of Australia will be a wheelchair rugby league tour of Australia by the England national wheelchair rugby league team. The tour was announced in December 2024 by the International Rugby League, and will see four matches played including a wheelchair rugby league Ashes series contested by the two nations.[1][2]
England are the defending champions after winning the inaugural Wheelchair Ashes 2–0 in 2019, in addition to beating the North Queensland, Queensland, and New South Wales representative teams, going the whole tour undefeated.[3]
Squad selection process
Wheelchair festival and intra-squad tri-series
In April 2025, the RFL hosted a wheelchair rugby league festival in Nottingham to scout potential new players for the tour.[4] The following month, 24 players made up of invitees from the festival and England regulars contested an intra-squad tri-series tournament in York.[5]
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National Performance Squad selection and Future of England game
Following the tri-series tournament, a national performance squad and a "Future of England" squad were selected for training camps on 28 June at St George's Park and on 15 June at the University of York Sport's Centre respectively.[6][7]
National Performance Squad:[7]
- Seb Bechara (Catalans Dragons)
- Jack Brown (Halifax Panthers)
- Josh Butler (Leeds Rhinos)
- Nathan Collins (Leeds Rhinos)
- Joe Coyd (London Roosters)
- Tom Halliwell (Leeds Rhinos)
- Rob Hawkins (Halifax Panthers)
- Lewis King (London Roosters)
Future of England Squad:[7][8]
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The Future of England camp involved an intra-squad friendly and saw Billington, Boardman, Domingos, Edwards, Haynes, Holmes, Norfolk, O'Neill, and Owen were advanced to the national performance squad for a second training session and a behind closed doors trial in York on 13 July.[9][10][11]
Fixtures
Fixtures for the tour were confirmed on 18 May 2025.[12][13][14][15]
See also
Notes
- ^ Tom Halliwell, a regular member of the England squad, was injured for the tri-series tournament
References
- ^ "England to tour Australia for wheelchair series". International Rugby League. 19 December 2024.
- ^ "Wheelchair Rugby League to Tour Australia for Four-Test Series in October 2025". National Rugby League. 19 December 2024.
- ^ "England Wheelchair win Ashes series against Australia". Asia Pacific Rugby League. 24 October 2019. Archived from the original on 26 October 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
- ^ "From Nottingham to Australia – England Wheelchair host Invitational Festival to spread the net ahead of 2026 World Cup". Rugby Football League. 16 April 2025. Retrieved 18 May 2025.
- ^ "Batley and Castleford players selected for England Wheelchair Tri-Series in York". Rugby Football League. 6 May 2025. Retrieved 18 May 2025.
- ^ "Coyd pays tribute to retiring Rigby". Rugby Football League. 15 May 2025. Retrieved 18 May 2025.
- ^ a b c "Coyd selects first eight players for England Wheelchair NPS". Rugby Football League. 20 May 2025. Retrieved 20 May 2025.
- ^ https://www.rugby-league.com/article/63905/a-weekend-of-wheelchair-action
- ^ https://www.rugby-league.com/article/63928/tom-coyd-names-17-strong-national-performance-squad-for-2025
- ^ https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-league/articles/cn412yrgr9po.amp
- ^ https://www.totalrl.com/three-uncapped-players-in-england-wheelchair-performance-squad/
- ^ "Dates confirmed for Wheelchair Ashes in Australia". Rugby Football League. 18 May 2025. Retrieved 18 May 2025.
- ^ "England to play NSW, Queensland ahead of Wheelchair Ashes series". National Rugby League. 19 May 2025. Retrieved 20 May 2025.
- ^ "England wheelchair RL's Ashes tour set for autumn". BBC Sport. 18 May 2025. Retrieved 18 May 2025.
- ^ "Wheelchair rugby league Ashes dates confirmed as England begin World Cup preparations". LoveRugbyLeague. 18 May 2025. Retrieved 18 May 2025.