The 2025 England wheelchair rugby league tour of Australia was a wheelchair rugby league tour of Australia by the England national wheelchair rugby league team. The tour was announced in December 2024 by the International Rugby League, and saw four matches played including a two-game wheelchair rugby league Ashes series contested by the two nations.

England are the defending champions after winning the inaugural Wheelchair Ashes 2–0 in 2019, in addition to beating the North Queensland, Queensland, and New South Wales representative teams, going the whole tour undefeated.

The NRL used the two tests to start and end a four-day festival of wheelchair rugby league which as well as the test matches included the inaugural NRL Wheelchair Championship.

The Ashes were won by England who repeated their feat of 2019, by winning both games against Australia as well as defeating New South Wales and Queensland.

Background

England squad selection process

Wheelchair festival and intra-squad tri-series In April 2025, the RFL hosted a wheelchair rugby league festival in Nottingham to scout potential new players for the tour. The following month, 24 players made up of invitees from the festival and England regulars contested an intra-squad tri-series tournament in York.

Team 1 Martin Lane (Sheffield Eagles) Wayne Boardman (Halifax Panthers) Chris Haynes (Sheffield Eagles) Seb Bechara (Catalans Dragons) Tristan Norfolk (Hull FC) Nathaniel Wright (Halifax Panthers) Stephen Reilly (Sheffield Eagles) Josh Butler (Leeds Rhinos) Coach – Greg Brown (Sheffield Eagles) Assistant Coach – Tom Halliwell (Leeds Rhinos)

Team 2 Joe Wink-Simmonds (Sheffield Eagles) Joe Coyd (London Roosters) Mason Billington (London Roosters) Jason Owen (London Roosters) Josh Edwards (Hull FC) Luis Domingos (Castleford Tigers) Jack Brown (Halifax Panthers) Finlay O’Neill (Halifax Panthers) Coach – Mike Swainger (Hull FC) Assistant Coach – John McMullen (RFL)

Team 3 Thomas Oates (Batley Bulldogs) Ewan Clibbens (Leeds Rhinos) Lewis King (London Roosters) Jordan Holt (Halifax Panthers) Jack Neatis (Wigan Warriors) Rob Hawkins (Halifax Panthers) Nathan Collins (Leeds Rhinos) Nathan Holmes (Halifax Panthers) Coach – Ian Stapleton (Warrington Wolves) Assistant Coach – Michael Collins (Leeds Rhinos)

National Performance Squad selection and Future of England game Following the tri-series tournament, a national performance squad and a "Future of England" squad were selected for training camps on 28 June at St George's Park and on 15 June at the University of York Sport's Centre respectively.

National Performance Squad:

Seb Bechara (Catalans Dragons) Jack Brown (Halifax Panthers) Josh Butler (Leeds Rhinos) Nathan Collins (Leeds Rhinos) Joe Coyd (London Roosters) Tom Halliwell (Leeds Rhinos) Rob Hawkins (Halifax Panthers) Lewis King (London Roosters)

Future of England Squad:

Team 1 Mason Billington (London Roosters) Wayne Boardman (Halifax Panthers) Ewan Clibbens (Leeds Rhinos) Chris Haynes (Sheffield Eagles) Jordan Holt (Halifax Panthers) Tristan Norfolk (Hull FC) Stephen Reilly (Sheffield Eagles) Nathaniel Wright (Halifax Panthers)

Team 2 Luis Domingos (Castleford Tigers) Josh Edwards (Hull FC) Nathan Holmes (Halifax Panthers) Martin Lane (Halifax Panthers) Tom Oates (Batley Bulldogs) Finlay O’Neill (Halifax Panthers) Jason Owen (London Roosters) Joe Wink-Simmonds (Sheffield Eagles)

The Future of England camp involved an intra-squad friendly and saw Billington, Boardman, Domingos, Edwards, Haynes, Holmes, Norfolk, O'Neill, and Owen were advanced to the national performance squad for a second training session and a behind closed doors trial in York on 13 July.

The touring squad was announced on 7 August and will have a final training session on 31 August.

Australia coaching changes Ahead of the tour, Queensland head coach Cameron Sullivan joined Brett Clark's coaching staff as an assistant coach.

Squads England The England squad for the tour was announced on 7 August. Captaincy was announced on 31 August. Squad numbers were confirmed on 19 October, the day the squad flew to Australia.

No. Player Club1Nathan Collins Leeds Rhinos2Mason Billington London Roosters3Joe Coyd London Roosters4Lewis King (C) London Roosters5Rob Hawkins Halifax Panthers6Wayne Boardman Halifax Panthers7Luis Domingos Castleford Tigers8Jack Brown (VC) Halifax Panthers9Seb Bechara Catalans Dragons10Finlay O’Neill Halifax Panthers

Australia The Australia squad was named on 17 September. Daniel Anstey is the only player who was not in the Australian squad at the 2021 Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup.

Player Club State Bayley McKenna Brothers Townsville Queensland Zac Schumacher Brothers Townsville Queensland Diab Karim Parramatta Eels New South Wales Peter Arbuckle Gold Coast Titans Queensland Daniel Anstey Gold Coast Titans Queensland Cory Cannane St George Illawarra Dragons New South Wales Adam Tannock Townsville Marlins Queensland Brad Grove Parramatta Eels New South WalesReserves Dylan Gawthorne South East Queensland Stingrays Queensland Liam Luff Parramatta Eels New South Wales

Fixtures Fixtures for the tour were confirmed on 18 May 2025.

England began their tour with a dominant win over New South Wales, before a tightly contested match against Queensland three days later.

In the first of the Ashes tests, England opened strongly scoring 16 points in the first eight minutes. Australia quickly got back into the game bringing the score to 28 points to 26 in favour of the hosts with a quarter of the match to go. The final 23 minutes however saw five unanswered tries from England resulting in a convincing win for the tourists.

In the second and final test, Australia saw a controlling first half performance, scoring inside two minutes. An initial England response of two tries was silenced by a further four from Australia with England only managing one more in the half. Australia led 30 point to 18 at half time. However, unlike the first test, Australia were unable to carry their momentum. England scored five tries in 25 minutes of the second half with Australian managing just the two to bring the scores level. A final try from England with two minutes to go won the game and the Ashes for the tourists.

Broadcasting Both Ashes games were streamed live by the NRL.

See also 2025 Kangaroo tour of England

Notes

References