England have been eliminated in the group stage of both the Men's and Women's Rugby League World Cups, and the Rugby Football League (RFL) has announced a plan to map the future of the English game. Former Great Britain men's captain Paul Sculthorpe, England women's captain Jodie Cunningham, who is retiring, and international giant Adrian Morley will help draw up the plan. The RFL promised that more names for the panel would be confirmed in the coming days.
The plan builds on work started earlier in the year under a scheme called One Game, One England, which aims to build a system that develops players from grassroots and academy levels to international standard. England men's head coach Brian McDermott has spoken multiple times during this World Cup about the need to strengthen the structures of English domestic rugby.
England lost their first match to Tonga, who beat Samoa 20-18 on Sunday morning. New RFL chief executive Ian Nolan stated that there were numerous mitigating reasons for the failure to reach the knockout phase, some of which were beyond their control, such as travel itineraries and the competition format, but he emphasised that these reasons could not be used as excuses. He also said they had been criticised over TV rights and the tournament behind a paywall on Premier Sports, but that they had no control over who the rights were sold to, highlighting that television is an important element for attracting the next generation.
Nolan said that the analysis of the national game would be comprehensive and included how to influence media rights, balancing reach and revenue, and attracting a new audience. It must be looked at why the England team has consistently struggled to leave a mark on the world stage for more than half a century, he added, noting that this is not just a recent problem.
The England women's team plays in the domestic Women's Super League, which is effectively amateur, and competes at the World Cup against professionals from the Australian NRL Women's Premiership. The Diploma in Sporting Excellence (DiSE) is designed to develop young players in years 12 and 13 of the education system who have the potential to play at elite level. Nolan stated that investment in grassroots women's and girls' games had only started a few years ago and that they had begun that journey.
Stuart Barrow led a very young team to this World Cup with 11 graduates from the DiSE programme, and the average age of the England women's team was 21 years. Nolan said they were building for the next World Cups and that the foundations were starting to pay off.
England's exit from the Men's Rugby League World Cup was confirmed on Sunday, exactly 12 months to the day after their challenge in the Rugby League Ashes officially ended. On 1 November last year Australia won 14-4 in the second test at the Hill Dickinson Stadium in Everton and secured the series. The defeat in the second test and the loss in the third test at Headingley seven days later triggered a chain of events that led to Shaun Wanea leaving his position as head coach. Wanea left in January, and McDermott arrived in April.
McDermott did not have any mid-season international matches or warm-up games to fine-tune the style of play, but he produced improvements. England were good in parts of the match against Tonga, were ruthless when they needed to be against France, and did everything required of them in the first 20 minutes against Papua New Guinea before completely losing their way. McDermott wants to stay for the 2030 World Cup.
The Australian NRL is the king of rugby league. In July, it signed a seven-year television deal worth 5.3 billion Australian dollars (£2.78 billion). The three-match State of Origin series, held in June and July, dominates the calendar at a time when Europe might try to squeeze in an international window. If England wants to play against Southern Hemisphere teams, it can only do so in October and November and must work around the Southern Hemisphere Pacific Championships. The NRL's current negotiations on investment in Super League could help, and Peter V'landys is the chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission, the NRL's.
