{"id":149323,"date":"2025-11-23T07:44:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T07:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/149323\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T07:44:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T07:44:07","slug":"rugby-league-world-cup-christchurch-to-host-kiwis-kiwi-ferns-double-header","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/149323\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby League World Cup: Christchurch to host Kiwis, Kiwi Ferns double-header"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThat will be amazing to play a game in Christchurch, let alone in a World Cup,\u201d Nicoll-Klokstad said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be a lot of excitement and a real buzz in the air.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Christchurch'sChristchurch’s new Te Kaha Stadium, under construction. Photo \/ George Heard<\/p>\n

It will be part of two double-headers involving the Kiwis and the Kiwi Ferns, who both play their final pool matches against Fiji and Papua New Guinea respectively on October 31 on the Gold Coast.<\/p>\n

The Kiwis will open next year\u2019s World Cup against the defending champions, the Kangaroos, on October 15 in Sydney, after both heavyweight nations were slotted into Pool A alongside the Cook Islands and Fiji.<\/p>\n

Pool B features England, Samoa and Lebanon, while Pool C has Tonga, Papua New Guinea and France.<\/p>\n

Pool A teams will each play three matches against the other teams in their group, while Pool B and C teams will each play three matches against the teams in the adjacent group.<\/p>\n

The top two teams from Pool A will progress to the semifinals, while the top two teams from a combined table of Pool B and C will also move through.<\/p>\n

The Kiwi Ferns have been slotted into Pool B in the women\u2019s competition alongside Fiji, France and Papua New Guinea.<\/p>\n

They open their campaign on October 18 against Fiji in Newcastle.<\/p>\n

\"KiwiKiwi Ferns star Mele Hufanga. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

Pool A has Australia, England, Samoa and Wales. The top two sides from each group advance to the semifinals.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Wheel Kiwis, who are making their World Cup debut, have Australia, Scotland and France in their pool, with the other pool featuring England, Ireland, Wales and the USA.<\/p>\n

Brisbane\u2019s Suncorp Stadium will host the final of the men\u2019s and women\u2019s tournaments, on Sunday, November 15. Wollongong\u2019s WIN Entertainment Centre will host the Wheelchair final on Friday, November 13.<\/p>\n

Australian Rugby League (ARLC) chairman Peter V\u2019landys says this will be the best Rugby League World Cup to date.<\/p>\n

\u201cRugby League World Cup 2026 couldn\u2019t come at a better time, on the back of record-breaking NRL and NRLW seasons, a successful Ashes series and the most exciting Pacific Championships ever,\u201d V\u2019landys said. <\/p>\n

\u201cRepresenting your country is the ultimate honour and doing so in a World Cup is the ultimate stage. The talent, skill, physicality, passion and raw emotion on display will be something like we have never seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kiwis\u2019 World Cup draw<\/p>\n

Kiwis v Australia: October 15, Sydney<\/p>\n

Kiwis v Cook Islands, October 25, Christchurch<\/p>\n

Kiwis v Fiji, October 31, Gold Coast<\/p>\n

Kiwi Ferns\u2019 World Cup draw<\/p>\n

Kiwi Ferns v Fiji, October 18, Newcastle<\/p>\n

Kiwi Ferns v France, October 25, Christchurch<\/p>\n

Kiwi Ferns v Papua New Guinea, October 31, Gold Coast<\/p>\n

Ben Francis<\/a> is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThat will be amazing to play a game in Christchurch, let alone in a World Cup,\u201d Nicoll-Klokstad said.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4487,50545,10542,99879,10541,1345,12022,83686,194,807,14731,10543,111,139,1536,69,1570,10538,6327,29191,213,16674,61,1533,102,377,1530],"class_list":{"0":"post-149323","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-christchurch","9":"tag-christchurchs","10":"tag-cup","11":"tag-doubleheader","12":"tag-ferns","13":"tag-home","14":"tag-host","15":"tag-kaha","16":"tag-kiwi","17":"tag-kiwis","18":"tag-league","19":"tag-match","20":"tag-new-zealand","21":"tag-newzealand","22":"tag-next","23":"tag-nz","24":"tag-october","25":"tag-play","26":"tag-rugby","27":"tag-soil","28":"tag-sports","29":"tag-stadium","30":"tag-to","31":"tag-will","32":"tag-with","33":"tag-world","34":"tag-years"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}