England wheelchair ready for Australia showdown in RLWC semis

England wheelchair take on Australia for a spot in the Rugby League World Cup final; England are the reigning and defending champions after their 2022 triumph; They went undefeated in their Pool after facing Ireland, Wales, and USA Monday 9 November 2026 12:20, UK Image: England face potentially their toughest test so far against Australia in the semis If England wheelchair want to continue the defence of their Rugby League World Cup title, the task is simple: defeat Australia in the semi-finals in their own backyard.England face the host nation on Tuesday at 9.45am, with a place in the final on the line. France take on Ireland in the other semi-final at 6.45am. As the reigning and defending champions, England were, of course, the favourites heading into this tournament after getting glory on home soil back in 2022. Rugby League World Cup 2026 schedule and resultsLatest Sky Sports deals or stream with no contractDownload Sky Sports app for analysis, news and videoEngland and Australia played each other in last year's Wheelchair Ashes series Down Under, where England secured a 2-0 series victory. Image: England went undefeated in their Pool with some big victories For Rob Hawkins, who has starred for England since 2019, a tough test awaits as they know Australia will have improved even from their meetings in 2025."I think every game that we have had this tournament has been tough, really," said Hawkins. "It probably doesn't seem that way when you look at the scorelines that we have had, but every game has been tough in certain ways."We don't really think about it in terms of whether this is going to be our toughest game. It is just another game at the end of the day."Australia have improved a lot since we faced them in the World Cup in 2022."We can see if they have actually improved more since our last meeting last year."From my point of view, I'm excited. The game is growing and the teams are improving a lot more. So it's going to be an exciting game against Australia." Twitter This content is provided by Twitter, which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Twitter cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Twitter cookies. To view this content you can use the button below to allow Twitter cookies for this session only. England have to prepare for a stronger Australia but they also have to prepare for an atmosphere in which they will be heavily backed against when they take on their fiercest rivals.It is something Hawkins is ready to embrace as he tries to turn the pressure into a big performance."They had to do the same thing with us in 2022. You are going to have those moments. We had it last year and we know how the Aussie fans are," Hawkins added."I am excited for the pressure because we can get used to that pressure as well in the sense of the Australian fans, because we know they have been bringing a decent crowd in."We know that it is going to be a bit of a difficult game with the atmosphere and with the team that we're facing, but we know that we are confident to basically go and do our game and stick to our game plan as well."'I thought I was going to wheelchair basketball'If England can get past Australia, they will then be one match away from being back-to-back world champions.It is quite the moment for Hawkins and while it would be a dream come true now, it may not have originally been the dream.Indeed, Hawkins turned up to a Halifax Panthers' session thinking he was trying out for wheelchair basketball but then, gave the sport a go of which he is now one of the main stars. 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"We tried looking for our local club and what we thought was Halifax wheelchair basketball, we went to a session, it turns out it was wheelchair rugby league instead," Hawkins said."We thought, well, we are already here now, so why don't we just give it a try and see."I jumped into a chair for about 20 minutes before my body wouldn't let me continue anymore."I just kept wanting to come back and keep jumping in the chair and get better."Over the years, when I found out about the international side that I could play internationally, that kind of drove my competitiveness back out of me that I didn't have since before my condition."It has definitely been building up and up all for this moment and to hopefully win my second World Cup."