England concede 15 tries in heavy loss to Australia in Perth; defending champions led 36-0 at half-time and did not relent as they remain on course for fourth successive Women’s Rugby League World Cup crown; England can still qualify for semi-finals if they beat Samoa on Friday
By Tony Tighe
Last Updated: 24/10/26 1:49pm
Jocelyn Kelleher scored two tries and kicked nine goals against England
England were outclassed in a 78-0 defeat to defending champions Australia but remain in with a chance of reaching the Rugby League World Cup semi-finals.
Stuart Barrow’s side shipped 15 tries on a unforgiving evening in Perth and must quickly regroup ahead of Friday’s final pool match against Samoa, where the winner will advance to the last four.
England had no answer to a rampant Jillaroos, who dominated from the first whistle and kept a clean sheet for the second successive game. But they will be frustrated by the manner in which they gifted Australia territory and scoring opportunities during an error-strewn and ill-disciplined first half.
England’s start was disastrous. They were caught offside from the kick-off and duly punished as Jaime Chapman opened the scoring, and another botched restart followed as Jenna Foubister kicked the ball straight into touch.
Australia aren’t a side who require such easy access into the opposition half and they cut loose, scoring seven tries in a one-sided first half where their one negative was a suspected broken wrist suffered by Julia Robinson.
England also lost Eva Hunter to injury – the second rower could only watch on with ankle on ice as her team-mates fell to a heavy loss.
Jaime Chapman celebrates scoring the first of Australia’s 15 tries
After conceding two early Chapman tries, England thought they had hit back when Anna Davies crossed in the corner. However, replays showed her knee was in touch before she grounded the ball.
That was as good as it got. With the excellent Tamika Upton returning kicks with interest and Jocelyn Kelleher combining with half-back partner Tarryn Aiken to devastating effect, Australia kept the scoreboard ticking over with regularity.
Kelleher scored twice with Isabelle Kelly and Abbi Church also dotting down to make it 36-0 at half-time.
The onslaught continued with Aiken, Olivia Kernick, Quincy Dodd all scoring within 10 minutes of the restart, before Church scored one of the tries of the game after Kelleher regathered her own grubber and combined with Upton to put the winger over.
Makenzie Weale, Tiani Penitani Gray, Kelly and Shayley Bent added further tries as Australia threatened to better the 90-4 victory over England in Las Vegas last year, but England refused to throw in the towel and popped up with some big defensive moments despite being under constant pressure.
Focus must quickly shift to Samoa but Barrow faces a challenge to lift his players.
Barrow shifts focus to ‘elimination football’
England rush out after a goal-line drop-out
England head coach Stuart Barrow:
“It’s really disappointing when you see a score like that. You can’t be happy with it in any way, shape or form, but it felt different. It felt like we competed a lot more on plays.
“We didn’t give up, we just kept trying, but once they get a roll on like that I don’t think any team in the world can compete with them. They’re just too quick, too skilful and they’re too fast for our girls at that stage.
“When you’re defending back-to-back-to-back sets, then suddenly fatigue comes in, and that accelerates the momentum that they’ve got on you.”
On facing Samoa: “It’s elimination football. A lot of our girls have played a lot of elimination football over the last couple of years. It makes it do or die and that’s exciting. We’ve just got to recover from this, first and foremost.
“We’ve got an early flight tomorrow [Sunday] to Sydney and then a trip on to Wollongong. We’ve just talked about how we handle the recovery from now because we’ve got a five-day turnaround until we play next and we’ll be focused on that.”
What’s next?
England play Samoa in their final pool fixture on Friday (6.45am), where victory in Wollongong will secure a semi-final place.
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