Category: Rugby League

Hosting the world champions is as tough as it gets, but the players say this is the ‘best England team in a long time’

By No Helmets Required

With the club season over, England players George Williams and Jack Welsby are focusing on their next challenge: an Ashes series against the world champions. The pair will take centre stage at Wembley against Australia on 25 October. We met up in London to discuss the first Ashes series since 2003.

George, as captain, what will you say to players like Jack who have waited so long to face Australia?
Williams: “The last time we played them over here was 2016, which is a long time ago. I was young and came off the bench. It was a good experience. But Jack knows – he’s been around the block long enough now, won Super League titles and played against the NRL’s best, so I don’t have to tell him too much. The younger ones? Probably just enjoy it. They don’t come around often. You want to test yourself against the best in the world. We want to knock them off their perch.”

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• London Broncos’ big names will play in Championship

• Door open for them in 2027 if they can raise grading

York Knights’ owner, Clint Goodchild, believes the club’s historic promotion to the Super League for the first time is a watershed moment for the whole of North Yorkshire, after they and Toulouse were granted admission to the top flight in 2026 and London Broncos missed the cut.

The Knights will play in rugby league’s highest division for the first time since 1986 after they were selected by an independent panel alongside Toulouse to join the top 12 from Thursday’s IMG gradings and expand the Super League to 14 teams for the first time in more than a decade.

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Unpredictability and fresher feel has been apparent in Super League and whets the appetite for England’s home Tests against Australia

For the first time in two decades Super League woke up on Sunday morning with a name other than Wigan Warriors, St Helens or Leeds Rhinos as its champions. Hull KR are the first new winners of the competition since 2004, and only the fifth in history to be crowned at all.

For the Robins, this is a watershed moment. Without a major trophy in 40 years before this season, they have now completed an historic treble in 2025 and are arguably Super League’s premier club side. But for the wider competition as a whole, their success could not have come at a better time.

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Not only did Walters score the key try for Leeds in 2015 – he did it again in the Scottish Grand Final a decade later

By No Helmets Required

Ten years ago this week Josh Walters took a simple pass and plunged over the six-yard line at Old Trafford to score the final try in the Super League Grand Final as Leeds secured their seventh title. There were 73,512 fans inside the stadium and a couple of million more watching at home. He humbly plays down his role in the treble-clinching triumph. “I never say it was the winning try because Kev [Sinfield] still had to kick the two points – my try brought us level and there was still 15 minutes left.”

That was his first winning try in a Grand Final. The second came this summer in Scotland, watched by a few dozen spectators at Penicuik Rugby Club. In contrast to his supporting role at Old Trafford, Walters was West End’s driving force for the whole match. The dramatic golden-point victory brought West End Warriors their first title in their debut season, Walters breaking from halfway to seal a 34-30 win over Edinburgh Eagles. “We wouldn’t have been in that position if it hadn’t been for me,” says the gently spoken Walters. “I was about to score earlier and someone knocked the ball out of my hands. So I had to make up for that.”

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