Men's Rugby League World Cup round one: results, standings and round two fixtures

The men’s Rugby League World Cup, played in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea from 15 October to 15 November 2026, finished its first round on Sunday 18 October. The scores below are from the International Rugby League’s official results and match LeagueUnlimited’s and the Rugby League Project’s records.

Round one results

• Thursday 15 October, Allianz Stadium, Sydney: Australia 24 New Zealand 22. Jack Bostock scored three tries, and Reece Walsh and Tom Trbojevic one each. Kalyn Ponga scored twice and Casey McLean once for New Zealand. The crowd was 41,255.
• Friday 16 October, CommBank Stadium, Sydney: Samoa 78 France 4. Sualauvi Fa’alogo scored four tries and Stephen Crichton kicked 11 goals.
• Saturday 17 October, Santos National Football Stadium, Port Moresby: Papua New Guinea 42 Lebanon 18. Rhyse Martin kicked seven goals from seven attempts. Abbas Miski scored two tries for Lebanon.
• Saturday 17 October, HBF Park, Perth: Tonga 30 England 12. Haumole Olakau’atu scored two tries and Isaiya Katoa kicked seven goals. AJ Brimson and Dominic Young scored England’s tries.
• Sunday 18 October, McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle: Fiji 40 Cook Islands 12. Solomone Saukuru scored two of Fiji’s seven tries.

Standings (points, points difference)

Pool A: Fiji 2 (+28), Australia 2 (+2), New Zealand 0 (-2), Cook Islands 0 (-28).

Six-team pool (listed as Pool B on the official site): Samoa 2 (+74), Papua New Guinea 2 (+24), Tonga 2 (+18), England 0 (-18), Lebanon 0 (-24), France 0 (-74).

Under the tournament draw, the top two from each table go through to the semi-finals on 7 and 8 November in Newcastle and Sydney. The final is at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, on Sunday 15 November at 8:35am GMT.

Round two fixtures (GMT, official schedule)

• Friday 23 October, 9:05am: Tonga v Lebanon, CommBank Stadium, Sydney
• Saturday 24 October, 4:25am: Papua New Guinea v Samoa, Santos National Football Stadium, Port Moresby
• Saturday 24 October, 6:35am: England v France, HBF Park, Perth
• Sunday 25 October, 5:05am: New Zealand v Cook Islands, One NZ Stadium, Christchurch
• Sunday 25 October, 9:05am: Australia v Fiji, Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane