England beat France 50-38 in Wollongong to win Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup
England beat France 50-38 in the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup final in Wollongong on Friday, retaining the trophy they won in Manchester four years ago and becoming world champions for the third time.
The squad used unconventional preparation methods, including a ladder in team meetings where a rung was spray-painted gold after each victory, and time spent comparing themselves to lifeguards and sharks as part of coach Tom Coyd's plan to take an aggressive approach. Coyd has avoided the word "defend" since England lifted the trophy in November 2022 and spent four years pushing for a more attacking mindset.
Coyd described that mindset in full: "I think your reality is the story that you tell yourself," Coyd said. "And the narrative that we felt might be upon us coming in was that we are here to defend and we are here to retain. "We found that framing to be defensive, to be a bit passive - and knowing that we've been world number one since November 2022, we wanted to come in with an attacking mindset and with a hunter's mindset. "If we had not spent the last four years talking about defending the World Cup, we weren't going to spend the last three weeks [at this tournament] talking about it either. "We wanted to prime the group to be forward thinking, to attack the attack when we didn't have the ball - and when we did have the ball, to be a shark smelling blood in the water."
England were positive from the start of the tournament, scoring 386 points across the group stage and semi-finals while conceding just 68, and that attacking approach culminated in them becoming the first nation to win the Wheelchair World Cup three times. Coyd later praised the side's execution on the night: "I think the way they executed tonight was just outstanding," Coyd added. "I don't think France have moved backwards. If anything, they looked hungrier than I've ever seen them. "But the rate of which these 10 lads have moved on just blew my mind. I'm so proud of them."
The final itself featured momentum swings. England initially moved ahead, but thirty minutes in were in danger after France, having trailed 10-0, produced 22 unanswered points to take control; by half-time tries from Rob Hawkins — recently crowned the world's best player for a third time — and Jack Brown had restored parity and steadied the side before England went on to win.
Captain Lewis King delivered a short half-time huddle that Coyd credited with providing calm and composure: "Lewis' presence is everything for this team," added Coyd. "He always finds the right words at the right time. That's before, during and after games. "Even in those moments during the match today, where we've been calling it a riptide - continuing on a surfing theme, when it feels like the waves are going against you, even though you feel like you don't deserve that. "The steadiness and the composure that Lewis just lives and breathes so innately - the boys feed off of it. He's without the doubt the talisman for this group."
Joe Coyd, the head coach's younger brother, scored four of England's nine tries and reflected on the team's self-belief: "We don't need a massive rousing 'let's all go together' type of speech. "We've got such confidence in each other and we've all seen the work we're doing and we challenge each other in such a good, positive way. "Tom's not even [been] in the changing room in the last messages today and hasn't been all tournament." Jack Brown, playing at his fifth World Cup and earning his third winner's medal, said: "I don't think the team missed that [not having a rousing speech] because we saw it as a confidence in the team. "We knew what we had to do and we knew that we had so many leaders in our team."
The victory came on Australia's western coast, around 70 miles south of Sydney where England won the inaugural competition in 2008, and confirmed England as the first nation to claim three Wheelchair World Cup titles.