Hawkins leads England into Wollongong semi-final after overcoming illness
Rob Hawkins, a 25-year-old England and Halifax Panthers wing who has scored 14 tries at this Rugby League World Cup, will face Australia in the wheelchair competition semi-final in Wollongong on Tuesday (08:45 GMT).
Hawkins began wheelchair rugby league more than a decade ago after replying to what he thought was an advert for wheelchair basketball, and he only took up the sport in 2014 after being bedbound for 18 months. "I saw something on television about wheelchair basketball so we tried looking for our local club, and what we thought was Halifax wheelchair basketball. When we went to a session it turned out it was wheelchair rugby league instead," Hawkins told BBC Sport.
He was a prominent member of the England side that triumphed in Manchester four years ago and has since collected individual honours, winning the IRL Golden Boot Award in 2024 and 2025 and Super League's Wheels of Steel as the competition's best player. Hawkins also scored a hat-trick of tries against Ireland during this tournament.
Hawkins's long-term health condition has had a profound effect on his daily life: at one stage he relied on walking frames or family members just to get to the toilet, and he missed two years of learning at high school. "There are still times where I just need that extra rest," he added. "There are days where I still go down and I do just rest all day long. The thing that I've just learned over the years is effectively just trying to pace myself as much as I can."
Reflecting on the personal impact of his condition, Hawkins said: "It feels weird to say - I'm happy I've had this condition because it's taught me and seemed to show me a different aspect of life where I've actually connected with people that I might not have done previously."
England topped Pool A with a 98-18 victory over Wales, a 134-0 win against the USA and a 68-32 victory over Ireland, and they go into the semi-final against hosts Australia as favourites to reach the showpiece match. Australia recorded big wins over New Zealand and Scotland before a 69-34 defeat by France, who were runners-up four years ago.
Having pushed England close in the 2025 Ashes, Hawkins said the side are embracing the challenge and the pressure of the semi-final: "I'm excited for the pressure," he added. "We know they have been bringing a decent crowd in and that it is going to be a difficult game with the atmosphere and with the team that we're facing, but we also know that we are confident to basically go and do our game and stick to our game plan as well. We have some ladders in our team room and every game that we've won so far we've been spray painting it gold. We're just taking that one step up the ladder every time - we're just looking forward to facing Australia."
England's semi-final against Australia in Wollongong on Tuesday (08:45 GMT) is their next match as they aim to take another step towards becoming the first nation to lift the wheelchair World Cup trophy on three occasions.