World Cup draw: England to kick off tournament in Newcastle

Conducted by HRH The Duke of Sussex, Head of UK Sport, Dame Katherine Granger DBE and RLWC2021 International Ambassador and  Jason Robinson OBE, the men’s, women’s and wheelchair tournaments’ draws were completed concurrently at Buckingham Palace.

There will be plenty of St Helens interest in the tournament and Theo Fages could come face to face with some Saints teammates, with France also in England's Group A.

Newcomers Greece are the fourth team in England's group.

Australia are joined in Group B by Fiji, Scotland and Italy - again there could be some Saints involvement there with Kevin Naiqama currently being the Fiji skipper and Lachlan Coote having represnted Scotland - the birthplace of his grandmother.

Group C features New Zealand, Lebanon, Jamaica and Ireland. 

This group could feature James Bentley who has represented Ireland three times.

Tonga, currently coached by Saints boss Kristian Woolf, will face Papua New Guinea, Wales and Cook Islands.

Wales will undoubtedly feature Regan Grace.

Fixtures will be held in world-class venues across the country, the Emirates Stadium, London, and Anfield, Liverpool, culminating with a double-header men’s and women’s final at Old Trafford, Manchester.

Details of the team that Saints are hosting and the games that will be staged at Totally Wicked Stadium will be revealed in due course.

 The full list of groups is as follows:

Group A

• England
• Samoa
• France
• Greece

Group B

• Australia
• Fiji

• Scotland
• Italy

Group C

• New Zealand
• Lebanon
• Jamaica
• Ireland

Group D

• Tonga
• PNG
• Wales
• Cook Islands

England’s women’s team play their first match on November 9, 2021 against Brazil, in front of what will be a packed house at the Emerald Headingley Stadium, Leeds. Their remaining group fixtures will see them play PNG and Canada. The full list of groups is as follows:

Group A

• England
• PNG
• Canada
• Brazil

Group B

• Australia
• New Zealand
• France
• Cook Islands

The wheelchair draw followed the same format as the women’s, resulting with hosts England being drawn alongside Spain and Norway in Group A. Their opening fixture will be against Australia on November 11, 2021 at The Copper Box Arena, London. The full list of groups is as follows:

Group A

• England
• Australia
• Spain
• Norway

Group B

• France
• Wales
• Scotland
• USA

• Jon Dutton, Chief Executive at RLWC2021 commented: “The draws have been a fantastic example of where this tournament is aiming to be in 2021. We want to deliver a truly world class event next year and we’re really excited by the first three fixtures that have come out from today’s draws.”

  “We look forward to announcing the full schedule of games along with ticket prices in the next few months. We are hugely excited to welcome the competing nations to what will be the pinnacle of rugby league competition as we look to deliver the biggest and best Rugby League World Cup of all time.”

  The RLWC2021 draws were overseen by an external observer from Deloitte to ensure all procedures were followed correctly.