{"id":933689,"date":"2026-10-19T11:34:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T11:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/933689\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T11:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T11:34:12","slug":"world-cup-2026-jillaroos-brace-for-competitive-england-after-vegas-bloodbath","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/933689\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup 2026: Jillaroos brace for competitive England after Vegas bloodbath"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Jillaroos are expecting a far more competitive showing from England this week after the all-conquering Aussies embarrassed their foes with an 86-point thumping when they met in Las Vegas last year.<\/p>\n

The world\u2019s best team scored 17 tries in the 90-4 shellacking last March, and they are primed for another big win after dusting off the cobwebs in their World Cup opener against Samoa in Sydney.<\/p>\n

Jess Skinner\u2019s side weren\u2019t at their best but still cruised to a 40-0 victory, with Australia winning their four Tests since the England match by a combined 150-12.<\/p>\n

England thumped Wales 70-6 in Perth on Saturday, which makes you wonder what the score will be when they face the Aussies next week. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t really focused on them too much, we\u2019ve been taking it one game at a time,\u201d Jillaroos captain Isabelle Kelly replied when asked about England. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to playing them. They\u2019ve got a lot of girls that have gone and played now with England from the NRLW, and I think that\u2019s certainly going to strengthen their side. <\/p>\n

\u201cAfter we look at where we can be better after (the Samoa) game, we\u2019ll assess that and go from there. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just another challenge for us, and focusing on ourselves more so than them is probably what we normally do here. We\u2019re excited for the challenge and we know they\u2019re going to be up for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Superstar fullback Tamika Upton scored five tries in the win over England, while strike centre Jess Sergis came off the bench and still finished with a hat-trick at Allegiant Stadium. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a little bit weird,\u201d Sergis said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t actually think we reflected on that game because it was quite fast and we were in and out in Vegas. But it will definitely be something we reflect on this week moving forward. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think England are going to be a different team. They\u2019ve got Jasmin Strange and Georgia Roche there, so we can\u2019t take them lightly.\u201d<\/p>\n

England would have been more of a challenge had Jocelyn Kelleher decided to represent the country where her mum was born, but the Roosters playmaker waited patiently and was rewarded with a stunning debut for Australia.<\/p>\n

The five-eighth tormented Samoa with her right boot and was named player of the match.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am so proud of \u2018Joc\u2019,\u201d Sergis said. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe was in the squad last year and never got her opportunity to play, and she\u2019s always just been itching. I know this has been a big goal of hers. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was there when she got the call that she was in the squad, just to see how much excitement she had with that. Now to debut and be player of the match, I think she\u2019ll just be over the moon.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019ll probably doubt herself and still say she didn\u2019t play her best, but that\u2019s the beauty of a World Cup campaign \u2013 we\u2019ve got weeks to build and get better. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very proud of how she played and controlled us around the field, and she\u2019s only going to get better from here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published as \u2018A little bit weird\u2019: Jillaroos players expect England to put up more of a fight a year after Vegas bloodbath<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Jillaroos are expecting a far more competitive showing from England this week after the all-conquering Aussies embarrassed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":933690,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[500661,377258,383404,447710,497018,500665,381858,500649,468202,500646,391203,384367,380489,376730,500667,387445,381082,500654,376925,86022,500672,500670,500647,64,27621,63,500664,41286,1208,416994,1862,29732,500668,390206,500655,500648,500650,54317,500651,120956,16043,500653,500671,500660,54353,500658,2623,500656,45755,761,762,51485,158,25993,465984,46,15624,323098,5993,46907,500674,85,500657,500645,500673,436356,500652,500663,410732,181037,384381,405935,320297,488649,313300,500659,377453,497005,380148,42593,380398,460282,500669,416975,394476,496999,377140,54798,72503,377457,495024,500675,379241,495019,199184,2875,500666,500662,29258,21418],"class_list":["post-933689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-s-best-team","tag-s-side","tag-383404","tag-17-tries","tag-a-40-0-victory","tag-a-big-goal","tag-a-challenge","tag-a-combined-150-12-england","tag-a-different-team","tag-a-far-more-competitive-showing","tag-a-fight","tag-a-hat-trick","tag-a-little-bit","tag-a-lot","tag-a-stunning-debut","tag-a-team","tag-a-time","tag-a-world-cup-campaign","tag-a-year","tag-allegiant-stadium","tag-an-86-point-thumping","tag-another-big-win","tag-another-challenge","tag-au","tag-aussies","tag-australia","tag-australia-the-five-eighth","tag-debut","tag-england","tag-five-tries","tag-game","tag-girls","tag-her-best","tag-her-mum","tag-her-opportunity","tag-her-right-boot","tag-how-much-excitement","tag-isabelle-kelly","tag-jasmin-strange-and-georgia-roche","tag-jess-sergis","tag-jillaroos","tag-jillaroos-captain-isabelle-kelly","tag-jillaroos-players","tag-joc","tag-jocelyn-kelleher","tag-just-last-year","tag-las-vegas","tag-last-march","tag-last-year","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-next-week","tag-nrl","tag-nrlw","tag-one-game","tag-perth","tag-player","tag-repeat","tag-samoa","tag-saturday","tag-sergis","tag-sports","tag-strike-centre-jess-sergis","tag-superstar-fullback-tamika-upton","tag-sydney-jess-skinner","tag-that-game","tag-the-90-4-shellacking","tag-the-all-conquering-aussies","tag-the-aussies","tag-the-beauty","tag-the-bench","tag-the-call","tag-the-challenge","tag-the-cobwebs","tag-the-country","tag-the-england-match","tag-the-field","tag-the-jillaroos","tag-the-match","tag-the-moon","tag-the-nrlw","tag-the-roosters-playmaker","tag-the-samoa","tag-the-score","tag-the-squad","tag-the-tournament-favourites","tag-the-win","tag-the-world","tag-the-world-cup","tag-their-best","tag-their-foes","tag-their-four-tests","tag-their-side","tag-their-world-cup-opener","tag-this-week","tag-vegas","tag-vegas-bloodbath","tag-wales-70-6","tag-weeks","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933689","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=933689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/933690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=933689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=933689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=933689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}