The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb Ellis Cup, named after William Webb Ellis, who according to a popular legend, invented rugby by picking up the ball during a football game.
The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 tournament. The tournament was held in Australia from 26 October, culminating in the final between Australia and New Zealand on 22 November.
The Ireland men's national rugby league team, known as the Wolfhounds, is organised by Rugby League Ireland and represents Ireland in international rugby league. The representative team is composed largely of players of Irish descent who compete in the Super League as well as the Australasian National Rugby League. Ireland is also represented by an Ireland A side, which is made up of players from the Irish domestic competition.
The Papua New Guinea national rugby league team represents Papua New Guinea in the sport of rugby league football.
The Greece national rugby league team represents Greece in rugby league. The team has been participating in international competition since 2003, and have qualified for their first Rugby League World Cup, to be held in 2022.
The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was only one change: Uruguay replaced Russia. This was the first World Cup with no new teams to the tournament.
The 2017 Rugby League World Cup was the fifteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup tournament and took place in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea between 27 October and 2 December 2017. The tournament featured the national teams of 14 Rugby League International Federation member countries who qualified through either standing in the previous tournament or a series of qualification play-off matches. In the final, defending champions Australia, playing in their 14th consecutive final, defeated England at Brisbane's Lang Park.
The 2017 Rugby League World Cup qualifying process began on 9 May 2015 with the 2015 European Championship C. In August 2014, it was announced that seven of the eight quarter-finalists at the 2013 tournament would receive automatic qualification. Fourteen teams took part in the qualifying process to fill the remaining seven spots.
The 2021 Rugby League World Cup will be the sixteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and will be held in England from 15 October 2022 to 19 November 2022. It was originally going to be held between 23 October 2021 and 27 November 2021, however the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent withdrawals of Australia and New Zealand caused the tournament to be postponed. The tournament will be competed for by 16 teams, an increase of two from the last two tournaments.
The RFL Yorkshire Cup is a rugby league county cup competition for teams in Yorkshire. Starting in 1905 the competition ran, with the exception of 1915 to 1918, until the 1992–93 season, when it folded due to fixture congestion. In 2019, the competition was relaunched as a pre-season tournament, but not all Yorkshire clubs were invited, hence it is not a legitimate running of the competition, and was not played for ahead of the 2020 season.
Arneta Honey Hireme-Smiler is a New Zealand rugby football player who has represented her country in rugby league, rugby sevens and rugby union. Due to her multi-sport career, Hireme-Smiler has been referred to as Honey Bill Williams, in reference to her New Zealand male counterpart Sonny Bill Williams.
The 2021 Rugby League World Cup qualifying process began in June 2018 with the commencement of the 2018–19 Rugby League European Championship C tournament. Of the 16 nations that will compete in the World Cup, eight were granted automatic qualification, having reached the quarter finals of the 2017 World Cup. The remaining eight places were decided through a qualifying process.
The 2018–19 Rugby League European Championship C is the initial phase of European qualifying to the 2021 Rugby League World Cup. The series involves two pools of three teams in a round-robin tournament. These matches took place between 16 June and 15 September 2018.
The 2019 Rugby League European play-off tournament was the final phase of European qualifying to the 2021 Rugby League World Cup, played in October and November 2019. It featured six nations, five of whom have come through the previous phases of European qualifying - 2018 European Championship, 2018 European Championship B and 2018–19 European Championship C. The competition was played in two groups of three with the winners and runners up in each group qualifying for the World Cup.
The Rugby League World Cup 9s is an international rugby league tournament played in the rugby league nines format of the sport. The competition will be held every four years.
The 2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s was the first staging of the Rugby League World Cup 9s tournament and took place on 18 and 19 October 2019 at Sydney's Bankwest Stadium. The tournament featured teams from 12 International Rugby League member countries, 4 of which also fielded teams in the women's tournament. In the men's final, Australia defeated New Zealand, while in the women's final, New Zealand defeated Australia.
The 2021 Women's Rugby League World Cup will be the sixth staging of the Women's Rugby League World Cup, to be held in England from 1 November to 19 November 2022. Originally planned for 2021, it was delayed a year along with the Men's and Wheelchair tournaments due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The tournament will feature eight teams, an increase of two from the previous tournament.
The women's tournament in the 2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s will be held at Bankwest Stadium in Sydney on 18 and 19 October 2019.
This article documents statistics from the 2003 Rugby World Cup, held in Australia from 10 October to 22 November.
The 2021 Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup will be held in England from 3 November to 18 November 2022. It was originally planned to be held in November 2021 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in England. It will be the first occasion on which the wheelchair rugby league competition has taken place concurrently with the men's and women's tournaments. The competition will also be the first time that participants in the wheelchair tournament will receive the same participation fees as players in the other competitions and the first time that prize money will be awarded.
Australia 
New Zealand 
Papua New Guinea 
United States 
England 
Lebanon 
France 
Wales 
Samoa 
Cook Islands 
Tonga Invitational 
Fiji