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\n Ireland have climbed the IRL World Rankings since the last World Cup in 2022.
\n \u00a9Getty Images
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Ireland and Scotland have been awarded the remaining two Wheelchair berths at IRL Rugby League World Cup 2026 in Australia.<\/p>\n
The Celtic nations will join Australia, England, France and Wales, who automatically qualified as semi-finalists at the last World Cup in England in 2022, New Zealand and USA have also been confirmed for RLWC26.<\/p>\n
It will be New Zealand’s first appearance in a Wheelchair World Cup, while USA debuted in England.<\/p>\n
New Zealand (Asia-Pacific) and USA (Americas) have been confirmed to ensure geographical diversity in the Wheelchair tournament, which will run alongside the Men’s and Women’s World Cups in Australia and PNG at the end of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n
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Australia to host RLWC 2026<\/p>\n
The inclusion of Ireland and Scotland follows an application process overseen by the IRL Wheelchair Advisory Group, who managed and reviewed the applications before making a recommendation to the IRL Board.<\/p>\n
The application process covered four areas:<\/p>\n
Senior International Matches played since RLWC21
\nPreparation for RLWC26
\nDomestic competition strength
\nParticipation impact act of RLWC26<\/p>\n
Ireland and Scotland were among the eight wheelchair teams who contested RLWC21, staged in 2022, which was won by England after beating France in an epic final at Manchester Central.<\/p>\n
For Ireland, currently ranked third in the IRL World Rankings, the opportunity to participate allows them to maintain their upward trajectory having risen through the rankings and securing back-to-back Celtic Cup victories.<\/p>\n
Ireland’s success has been developed on the back of a recently launched domestic competition which has provided at least 50% of their players for recent international matches.<\/p>\n
Ireland has played seven Wheelchair Tests since January 2023, with athletes participating in the three-team provincial competition invited to national team camps twice a month.<\/p>\n
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\n Ireland have climbed the IRL World Rankings since the last World Cup in 2022.
\n \u00a9Getty Images
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Ireland Wheelchair Head Coach Phil Roberts said: \u201cThe last IRL Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup was the catalyst for the development of the sport in Ireland; our growing participation, the launch of our domestic competition, and our ever-improving national squad.<\/p>\n
“I am thrilled for this dedicated and hardworking group of players and volunteers, and that they get the opportunity to showcase their progression at such a prestigious competition.<\/p>\n
“Receiving an invitation from IRL at this time enables us to prepare effectively to ensure that RLI will be at our very best in Australia in 2026.”<\/p>\n
Rugby League Ireland Chairman Jim Reynolds said: \u201cHuge thanks to IRL for this great honour to represent Ireland and Wheelchair sport at next year’s World Cup. It is a dream come true for our players, staff, and volunteers.<\/p>\n
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Ireland open the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup<\/p>\n
“We were determined to optimise the legacy from our participation in RLWC21 and I am immensely proud that we grabbed that opportunity and have built the sport in Ireland from the ground up with a full domestic league, a worthy national team and home-grown players now playing in the Super League. We will aim to make our country proud.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scotland, who have been narrowing the gap to their rivals in the past two years under the watchful eye of head coach Martyn Gill are keen to capitalise on the wider opportunities that participation in the World Cup will bring.<\/p>\n
The introduction of Edinburgh Giants in the Betfred Wheelchair Super League has given Scotland-based players access to week-in, week-out competitive fixtures.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am absolutely delighted that Scotland Wheelchair Rugby League has been offered a place at the 2026 Rugby League World Cup in Australia,\u201d Gill said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a huge moment for our players, staff, and the wider wheelchair rugby league community in Scotland. It\u2019s the reward for the commitment and hard work that is taking place to develop the sport both domestically and on the international stage.<\/p>\n
“We have to continue to raise the bar in all areas as we get set to test ourselves on the biggest stage. It\u2019s time to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scotland Rugby League co-chair Alistair McVicar said: \u201cWe are absolutely delighted with the decision for the Wheelchair team to be involved in the World Cup in Australia. Martyn, his management team and all involved, deserve this opportunity to showcase how far we have developed since the last World Cup\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland and Scotland have been awarded the remaining two Wheelchair berths at IRL Rugby League World Cup 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129635,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-129634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}