England’s World Cup fixtures leaked accidentally as full draw for tournament revealed

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England’s World Cup fixtures leaked accidentally as full draw for tournament revealed

The full draw for the 2026 Rugby League World Cup has been accidentally leaked on the tournament’s website hours before it was due to be officially revealed.

England head Down Under next year for a tournament that will have a new look to it, after the competition was reduced in size from 16 teams in 2022 to 10 this time around.

It was anticipated that the draw would be done or at least revealed during the coverage of the cricket Ashes on Sunday – but Australia won the opening Test in Perth inside two days.

And there is now further embarrassment for the tournament organisers after the official website for the competition published the fixtures and dates ahead of time.

Available to view on the hospitality section of the website is every single fixture – including the games England will play.

They will be in either Group B, with that and Group C each comprising of three teams – but all those teams will play three games; the three in the other group. Only top place in each group qualifies.

And England’s three group games have now seemingly been confirmed as against Tonga, France and Papua New Guinea.

They will kick off their campaign against Tonga in Perth on October 17 next year, before facing France a week later in the same city on October 24.

Six days later, England’s final group match sees them take on Papua New Guinea in Wollongong, on October 30.

As mentioned, they would need to finish top of their respective group in order to advance to the knockout stages: which comprises only of a semi-final and final round this year.

But it appears fans who were looking to go can now plan ahead of time before the official announcement on Sunday. Incidentally, you can see them here.