France and England are undoubtedly top of the tree in wheelchair rugby league, says IAN GOLDEN, but how long before several other rapidly emerging nations are snapping at their wheels?
ENGLAND completed their international season with two matches in France at the end of the November.
The first was against Spain at Le Centre de Ressources, d’Expertise et de Performance Sportive (CREPS) des Pays de la Loire in Nantes on a Thursday afternoon, where the World Cup holders were given a scare in the first half, where only a conversion separated the sides at the break.
With the score at 24-22 to England at half-time, there were no problems in the second half as England romped home 58-28.
Then, two days later, it was the rematch against France. England won convincingly in Wigan a month earlier, 66-33, but this match in Pôle Hippique de Saint-Lô, Normandy was a lot closer. The action on the court was as tough and thrilling as ever with the French in the end deservedly winning 32-28.
Wheelchair rugby League’s two biggest rivals are still top of the ladder in world rankings, but if there was a nation of the year award in 2024 for this discipline, it would surely go to Ireland.
Just a few years ago, they were struggling to raise a side in the Celtic Cup, but now they are flourishing as a wheelchair rugby league nation.
In June, they won the Celtic Cup for the first time since it became a three-way tournament, as they beat Scotland and Wales in Galway.
Then in October, as mentioned in last month’s Rugby League World, they played their first ever domestic game when Leinster beat Munster 58-30 in Meath, just north of Dublin.
Finally, for 2024 anyway, in late November, they were invited to play a friendly match against France in the second match of the double header which saw the aforementioned England v Spain clash as the curtain-raiser.
The Irish put on a brave display against their hosts in Nantes, but ended up on the wrong side of a 62-20 loss, which included three tries in a row in an excellent eight-minute spell in the second half.
Captaining Ireland in that game, as he did in the Celtic Cup was Argonauts’ Peter Johnston. In years gone by, he would have been one of many if not all heritage players in the side. In this Ireland line-up, he was just one of four who don’t play their rugby in Ireland.
Five of the Irish side came from the Leinster v Munster clash and Johnston is incredibly proud of what’s been happening in the Emerald Isle.
“The plan for Ireland is to try and get all four provinces playing and having their own teams,” he said. “We’d then have proper qualification rules – I would qualify for Ulster or Connacht for example.
“The idea is to play for your province via birth or heritage and you would then also qualify to play for Ireland. So, people will play for the province that they’re either from or their parents or grandparents are from. That wasn’t the case in the first game between Leinster and Munster as they just wanted to get started, but that is the plan in the future, I believe.
“It was a definite success. It was great to see my Ireland teammates playing, plus some new people I’d not met before, who are just starting to play and that’s only going to progress the international side as well.”
The Irish side travelled to France over two flights, the local contingent arriving on the Monday with the English-based players landing a day later. They then got together for a training session the day before the match.
Johnston may have personally suffered defeat for the first time this season in the loss to France, but he was just pleased to have been invited there.
“It was a brilliant day for international rugby league,” he said. “Having two matches at the same venue and England being the curtain raiser to us was fun too. The best game was played last.”
Johnston has also had a successful club season with Argonauts in Kent, who despite their location, choose to play in the Welsh set-up. For the second year in a row, they’ve taken the WRL Invitational League, undefeated, beating North Wales Crusaders 66-48.
It was a scoreline that didn’t do the game justice as the Argonauts only outscored the Crusaders by 11 tries to 10. It was Johnston’s kicking that was the major difference as he landed 10 out of 10 goals, giving him 180 points for the season for Argonauts (in addition, he scored 64 points for Ireland in 2024), second in the league behind his team-mate Fred Nye.
“At Argonauts, we’re really happy with how the season’s gone,” he said. “We’ve had a lot more close games this year compared to 2023, so that shows a big improvement with the other teams and I think the Welsh League’s showing that this is developing a lot of good players.
“It was really good to see a tight final. North Wales Crusaders definitely need credit there, they were leading at half-time and they played so well. We really had to fight for that one.”
So into 2025. Argonauts will be looking for a third WRL title and Ireland have an important year as a place in RLWC2026 will be up for grabs.
“Things have gone well for Ireland and the Argonauts this year. At the club, we’ve been undefeated for the last two years. We’ve got a few young players in the squad. Take Ellie Cockerton, who turned 16 during the season – it’s her first year with us and she ended up as top scorer in the league with 36 tries. We’ve got a few more young players coming through.
“With Ireland, we’re targeting World Cup qualification. We’re still a developing team and obviously we’ve got youth on our side which is a big plus. I’m 33 and I think I’m like the fourth or fifth oldest in the whole squad at the moment, so that’s showing how young our team is, which is great to see.”
Finally it’s a big congratulations to Rob Hawkins, who we interviewed in Rugby League World three months ago, for winning the Wheelchair Golden Boot for the International Rugby League Wheelchair Player of the Year.
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 504 (January 2025)
Click here to subscribe to the print edition of Rugby League World
