'We had to change after Vegas' – but England suffer another humbling

A new-look England side's hopes of getting closer to Australia were dashed as the ruthless defending champions dismantled them at the Women's Rugby League World Cup. Australia dismantled England in Perth to underline their credentials as World Cup favourites The thinking was that a dynamic new-look England side could get much closer to Australia than the group that fell to a record 90-4 defeat in Las Vegas in March 2025. After all, they had shown positive signs in attack when posting a 70-6 win over Wales in their opening World Cup match just seven days ago. However, on a warm Saturday evening in Perth, England's women suffered another humbling experience as they were comprehensively dismantled by a ruthless Australia side, who underlined their credentials as they bid for a fourth consecutive crown.

The NRLW – the fully professional women's competition in Australia – labelled the 78-0 scoreline an "annihilation" in a post on X, external and even the most optimistic England fan would struggle to disagree. However, while England's struggles began with two major errors from kick-offs and were further compounded by an escalating penalty count, head coach Stuart Barrow insisted that this had an altogether different feel to the debacle in Nevada that had prompted a seismic shift in thinking around squad selection in the build up to this