Category: Rugby

The Wigan prop only took up the sport in her 20s when she moved north to work for the Home Office but now hopes to play at the World Cup

There was something old-school about the England women’s team that beat France 38-4 in Toulouse last week. With eight players from Wigan, five from Leeds and three from St Helens, it looked like a Great Britain side of the early 2000s. But among the Wigan contingent was a player with a story that feels very 2026: Mary Coleman, a prop from Kent who works for the Home Office, has a first-class degree in psychological and behavioural sciences from Cambridge University, and had not heard of Wigan – or played rugby league – until she was in her early 20s.

“I didn’t grow up in a rugby household,” says Coleman. “I didn’t really know anything about rugby until I was in sixth form. My school was setting up a girl’s union side and I said to my boyfriend at the time: ‘Maybe I’ll give it a go.’ He said: ‘Don’t be silly, that’s not your thing.’ When we broke up, my 16-year-old brain wondered: ‘How am I going to get my boyfriend back? I’ll give rugby a go.’ My first session was a contact session and I immediately fell in love with someone encouraging me to run at someone as hard as I could.”

• Super League: Leigh 8-20 Wigan

• Wigan move up to second within two points of Leeds

Wigan once again showed why they should be considered favourites to be crowned Super League champions after emerging from a captivating local derby with Leigh to keep pace with Leeds at the summit.

The National Rugby League is understood to be ready to submit its bid to invest and ultimately take control of Super League in the coming days. If it was watching here, it would have seen a game and a competition with plenty to offer. Just seven miles separate these two clubs, and they produced a spectacle any potential investor would have been engrossed by.

Matt Ellis has transformed the club by spending £10m and they are now contenders to win a first Super League title

Matt Ellis is too young to remember the glory days of the club he has supported all his life and is now the proud custodian of, but he is reminded often enough to concede it serves as his greatest motivation to bankroll one of Super League’s sleeping giants.

For supporters of a certain age, Wakefield Trinity represent one of rugby league’s great names. In the 1960s they were league champions twice and Challenge Cup winners three times – but it is 60 years since they last won a major trophy. For younger fans like Ellis, Wakefield have been associated with one thing: mediocrity.

There are similarities between the tournaments – three co-hosts, England challenging and diaspora players – but tickets are cheaper and there are half as many matches

Gianni Infantino said the World Cup was like 104 Super Bowls. The men’s event at the Rugby League World Cup will be more like 18 Super League games. Some matches will attract four-figure crowds while others will be played in front of full houses of 50,000. There will be tens of thousands fans visiting rather than millions, but they will have fewer visa issues.