England regroup after 90-4 Vegas defeat as World Cup clash with Australia looms

England will meet Australia in the Rugby League World Cup in Perth on Saturday, 24 October at 10:05 BST, their first encounter since a 90-4 loss at Allegiant Stadium in Nevada in March 2025. The match follows England's 70-6 win over Wales in their tournament opener and arrives with head coach Stuart Barrow selecting a youthful squad that includes just six players who featured in the Nevada game.

The March 2025 meeting in Las Vegas, billed as the opening fixture of a planned three-match Test series and the potential start of a regular Women's Ashes, finished 90-4 in Australia’s favour at Allegiant Stadium. England conceded 17 tries in that defeat; Georgia Roche scored England's only try and was pictured in tears and being consoled by opponents after the final whistle. Australia entered the tournament as the winners of the previous three World Cups.

Barrow says the experience in Nevada is "in the past" but has altered his approach ahead of the World Cup, and he expressed confidence in the younger players in his current squad. "The youngsters coming in think that they can do better than what we did last time and I fully back that and believe them as well," he said. "If you're a young player coming into this group and coming to represent your country in a World Cup on the other side of the world, you want to play the best."

Stuart Barrow was appointed as England women's head coach in November 2022. He stressed that senior members who were part of the Las Vegas match are passing their experience on to the newcomers: "We've got some senior players who were in that group at the time and it allows them to talk about what happened in that game to our young group. It allows them to talk about the difficulties, challenges and we can draw on the experience mainly from player to player."

England's preparations were hit when Jasmin Strange suffered a serious knee injury in training on Tuesday, a setback Barrow described as a "devastating blow" that rules the Sydney Roosters second-row forward out of the rest of the tournament. Australia opened their campaign with a 40-0 win over Samoa, a result Barrow said underlines the standard England will face after they "came up with some unforced handling errors on first" against Wales and were not at a high completion rate.

Barrow warned that mistakes would be punished by the world champions and outlined England's focus: "You don't get that opportunity when you play the world champions. If you're giving cheap ball away, then you're defending. We've done a lot of work about keeping possession and respecting the ball, but I also think we've got some exciting football in us when we get to the right end of the field to challenge them, so that's our aim."

Australia hooker Keeley Nizza acknowledged the history between the teams while saying England have changed since Vegas: "We definitely know about the rivalry," Nizza said. "Last year we played them in Vegas and there was a big score, but I think England are a very different team now."

Barrow has brought several players who did not feature in Nevada, including heritage player Hope Millard and centre Connie Boyd, who scored a hat-trick on her debut. Super League Woman of Steel Jenna Foubister, 19, and Wigan team-mate Isabel Rowe produced a combined points haul in the Wales game with Rowe kicking nine conversions and scoring a couple of tries to total 26 points — the highest points tally in a single game by a female England player at a World Cup — a partnership Barrow has previously described as "telepathic".

Huddersfield Giants winger Amelia Brown, 22, a dog groomer by trade, scored two tries against Wales, the second of which she ran 107 metres to score and which has attracted widespread attention online. "My phone's been popping off, so it just feels good," Brown said. Barrow added: "You don't get many international tries that look like that, so to do that on your World Cup debut is outstanding. We want moments like that in our sport and especially the women's game because the one million views [it has had] puts us on the map and hopefully that gets people interested back home in our sport. So anything like that is amazing. I know that Amelia's been sharing a room with Jasmin Strange all week - who's a social media queen - so she's actually outdone Jasmin this time."

Australia v England is scheduled for Saturday, 24 October at 10:05 BST in Perth, with live commentary available on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds and the BBC Sport website and app. England will face the world champions with a changed squad and without Jasmin Strange for the remainder of the tournament.