England’s wheelchair team clinched the Ashes against Australia down under but it was a close run thing and coach Tom Coyd knows the Wheelaroos are only going to get better.

THIS autumn, the England Wheelchair side became the new Invincibles, going on a four-match tour of Australia, winning every game, including retaining the Wheelchair Ashes.

They started with an 86-10 win over New South Wales in Sydney, before travelling to the Gold Coast for three matches. A 72-60 win over Queensland was next, before two close victories against Australia.

England were coached, as they have been since 2020 by Tom Coyd, who entered Wheelchair Rugby League in 2018 as the England assistant coach after qualifying from Leeds Beckett University with a degree in sports science.

Since then, he has been awarded the title of MBE after coaching England to a World Cup win in 2022.

But this autumn, he knew he was in for his biggest test yet as a coach in leading a side down under in tough conditions, to try and do what the England men’s and women’s side are unable to do, turn the Australians over.

The 2-0 series win, which replicates the same scoreline back in 2019, was very satisfying for Coyd, as England now prepare for next year’s World Cup, again down under.

“Well, it was really satisfying, but it was really hard work as well,” he said. “It’s always a challenge being on tour, away from home, playing in unfamiliar conditions.

“We’re used to the moderate mid-teens in terms of playing Wheelchair rugby league, but in Queensland, it was 30 plus degrees and very humid for both international matches. When you’re playing indoors without a breeze on a hard surface, there’s nowhere for the moisture to go, it just lingers in the atmosphere.

“The players certainly have come away with a really good understanding of how they need to adapt the way that they play in those conditions because although all season is in the height of summer in the UK, I think that the humidity is significantly less. For the Queensland players, it was like nothing to them and they definitely took to the conditions a lot more naturally than we did.”

England started out in Sydney, where the players and staff had a fantastic visit, on and off the pitch. An 86-10 scoreline was large, even for Wheelchair standards, and that set the standard for the tour.

“It’s a cliché, but we definitely didn’t consider or focus on the scoreline before or after the game,” Coyd said. “It was very much about giving the guys a chance to adjust to the time zone and temperature because that match was less than four days after we landed.

“It was pretty soon to be throwing them into a competitive environment, but they handled themselves really well. Our focus was giving our guys a chance to build their combinations because they’ve spent all year in the Super League and Championship competing against each other. This year, London and Halifax fought tooth and nail for the Challenge Cup and the Super League and now the challenge for those guys is to be teammates.

“The NSW game was really well hosted by those who organised it and a brilliant opportunity for us to kick the tour off. The feeling that we got was that they were really grateful for the opportunity to host a top level game of Wheelchair rugby league because they’re still growing the sport in that part of the world.

“We were hosted at Penrith Panthers, which has arguably been one of the best sporting teams in the world over the last five years, not just in rugby league.

“To share an environment with those athletes, coaches and administrators was really special and we used their gym multiple times, we interacted with a lot of their staff members, including Matt Cameron, the CEO, they were wonderful hosts to us.

“So that was definitely a highlight while we were in Sydney, and the team also took a day trip to Sydney Harbour. We got the ferry from out near Parramatta and it’s an extraordinary journey that you go on eastwards towards the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. That was one thing that the guys will always remember.”

England then relocated to the Gold Coast in Queensland for the final three matches and had to take on tougher opposition in warmer conditions.

The first match was against the Queensland state side and was a much closer affair from game one as they got home 72-60.

“The match was brutal,” Coyd admits. “It was a very physical game, and completely different to that against NSW with much more humid conditions.

“It was a fantastic kind of stress test ahead of the first international as for the first time on the tour, the outcome was in jeopardy, and that was what we wanted. We needed to be tested and we were as most of the starting Wheelaroos played in that Queensland game, so we got a really good look at the traits and the combinations that we might come up against in the Test match.

“Again, we were really wonderfully hosted by Queensland Rugby League and the Indoor Stadium at Caloundra was a fantastic venue. All the venues that we played at blew us away. Australia has a pretty good setup when it comes to how it delivers sport and that was definitely the case for all the venues that we played in.”

The first of the two Ashes internationals was closer than the scoreline suggested. England won 56-28, but from the 56th to 58th minute, they were 28-26 down, the only time they were losing in the match, only to score five unanswered tries in the final 22 minutes.

“It was really exciting to be able to see our guys perform under pressure in an England shirt,” Coyd said. “It was a sign that we were building into what our best performance could look like as there were periods throughout the game where the guys connected and executed brilliantly well.

“Credit to Australia, they put us under pressure and that knocked us out of our rhythm a little bit, so the guys had to knuckle down and come back from that.”

The second international was even tighter with the match only settled in the final minute thanks to a try from Tom’s brother Joe Coyd as England won 48-42.

“It was heated to say the least,” the coach admits. “But that was probably due to the 30 plus degrees ambient temperature and humidity as well.

“There’s a lesson for my staff and I to think clearly and make good decisions. When you’re hot and bothered like that, it’s a challenge we’re not really that used to and the result was in jeopardy for the whole match.

“So, winning both matches was an excellent outcome for us. To travel all that way and invest in it like we did, we wanted the players and the team to be genuinely challenged and that was exactly what we got.

“I didn’t even see who scored the last try, because it was a moment of relief and celebration. It was only when I watched back the highlights, that I realised that it was Joe and who got the final try.

“Joe has had his best ever season and his form has been excellent. He was rewarded with Wheels of Steel for his form with London Roosters and he carried that into his England form as well.

“But what we know as an England team, is that every single person who has been involved with the National Performance Squad in 2025 contributed to that Ashes victory, not just Joe scoring the final try.”

England and France have contested the last two World Cup Finals, but Coyd knows that this tour will have made Australia battle hard for that not to be the case come late next year.

“It was an absolute win-win for Australia and England,” he said. “Australia demonstrated their improvement and generated the belief that they can go toe-to-toe with England, and for the English players to understand that Australia are a real contender for the World Cup next year.

“There’s going to be no easy route to the final and it was a big wake up call for any players who thought that these matches were going to be an easy ride.

“Australia will come on leaps and bounds from having the opportunity to compete with us, and also they’ve had the inaugural national championships, which was happening at the same time in the same place as our matches, which shows the elevation of their competition and how much more that the NRL is contributing to the wheelchair game in Australia. Their domestic competition is only going to improve, which means that by the time the players get to compete for Australia they’re going to be more well-rounded athletes, aren’t they?”

For England, it’s back to the Super League competition for 2026 and Coyd knows that it will be even more competitive than this year.

“I think that the new entrants in Edinburgh and Sheffield will be much better for the experience that they got last year,” he admits. “So, I’m hoping for as many competitive games as possible which only makes our players better from a national performance squad or England programme standpoint.

“We’ll be looking to bring back in all of the players who we think can fight for a place on the plane to the World Cup.

“We’ll be gathering in March for the first time and then meeting regularly on a monthly basis so we can have a fantastic understanding across all of the players of what our playing principles are, but also make sure that the players have really strong combinations, maintain those alliances and build on what we’ve done so far this year.”

First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 515 (December 2025)