England Wheelchair beat hosts Australia 86-18 in Wollongong on Tuesday night, scoring a record points total against the Wheelaroos to reach a fifth successive Rugby League World Cup final. Rob Hawkins scored five tries in a 30-point night and Mason Billington took player of the match, and iimiTV’s breaking report on the semi-final has the full story of the rout, from Billington’s third-minute opener to the 40-6 half-time lead.
FINAL: England 86, Australia 18
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How to watch: England vs France, Friday, November 13, 2026, at WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong
Kick-off: 7:45 p.m. AEDT (3:45 a.m. ET in Toronto)
The official RLWC2026 highlights of Tuesday’s semi-final, England’s 15 tries against the hosts:
England Wheelchair Golden Boot Shortlist: Coyd And Hawkins
What settled the morning after is that two of England’s semi-final stars are now chasing the sport’s top individual honour as well as the trophy. The IRL’s official 2026 Golden Boot shortlist, announced on Wednesday, names Joe Coyd and Rob Hawkins among the eight wheelchair nominees. Hawkins is the previous winner, and last year he became the first player in any form of the game to win the Golden Boot in back-to-back years, so a third straight award is now in play on the eve of a World Cup final.
France supply three of the other nominees, and they are the men England face on Friday: Jeremy Bourson, Nicolas Clausells and Dany Denuwelaere, who scored six tries in the semi-final against Ireland. Ireland captain Joseph Calcott and the Wheelaroos pair Bayley McKenna and Adam Tannock complete the list. The winner will be announced on Thursday night at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, alongside the men’s and women’s awards and the first inductees into the IRL Hall of Legends, the night before the final. Coyd’s place on the list is built on the whole run, not one night: he scored in every England match in Wollongong, against Wales, the United States, Ireland and Australia.
A Family Affair At The Centre Of England’s Final
The other story that came into focus on Wednesday is who is running this England side. Head coach Tom Coyd, in charge since 2020, coaches his younger brother Joe, and their father Martin Coyd OBE is the team’s general manager. Tom Coyd told Sky Sports that coaching his brother is the hardest thing he has ever done from a work perspective, and also the most rewarding: “There are times when you have to give him a bit of a telling off. It’s taught me loads about how to be a good brother and loads about how to be a good coach.”
Joe echoes it from the player’s side: “I’ve been lucky enough to do this for a while and it’s such a special occasion and privilege every time. But having my brother and my dad alongside me sort of just nudges it on a bit further.” Martin, an RFL board member, is in camp in Australia doing the practical work as well, repairing wheelchair parts and, in Tom’s words, setting the standard and driving the culture of a group he has led for over a decade. A second successive title would be a first for England: only France have ever won back-to-back Wheelchair World Cups, in 2013 and 2017.
Hawkins Rates The Semi-Final Six Or Seven Out Of Ten
For all the size of Tuesday’s win, England’s own verdict was that the best has not come yet. Hawkins told BBC Sport he would not call the performance a 10 out of 10: “Today was a six or seven. Hopefully the best is to come on Friday. Today was satisfying but not easy. We had the crowd to fight and a ruthless Australian team.” His third try was the night’s standout, chasing down a long punt and grounding it millimetres from the dead-ball line under pressure from Tannock, one of the men he now shares the Golden Boot shortlist with.
Nathan Collins, whose kicks set up so many of those finishes, made the same point about Friday: “We’ve got to do what we did today, stick to the process Tom has put in front of us. It looks like a good game, but there is still plenty to do.” Tom Coyd expects fine margins, and the recent record says he is right: France have won two of the last three meetings since England’s 28-24 win in the 2022 final, and retained the Fassolette-Kielty Trophy 32-28 in the last meeting in November 2024.
France Arrive Unbeaten, Led By A 63-Year-Old Captain
France’s own semi-final was nearly as emphatic, 82-26 over Ireland with 15 tries, and the official RLWC2026 highlights show the scale of the task England face:
France are unbeaten in the tournament, and their captain Gilles Clausells is 63 and still playing at the highest level, having said he would retire after each of the past two World Cups; he scored against Ireland on Tuesday. The first three finals between these nations were all decided by four points or fewer: France 42-40 in 2013 and 38-34 in 2017, England 28-24 in 2022. Friday’s curtain-raiser at the same venue is the third-place play-off, Australia against Ireland at 5:15 p.m. AEDT, before the final at 7:45 p.m. For Toronto viewers that is 3:45 a.m. Eastern, and on the evidence of this week, from a 15-try semi-final to a Golden Boot verdict the night before, the final is the one alarm worth setting.
