‘It’s buried’: England Women face Australia rematch after 90-4 defeat

Stuart Barrow says England Women have learned the lessons of their 90-4 defeat by Australia as they prepare to face the world champions again in Perth on Saturday.

The England coach’s assessment comes as Australia hooker Keeley Nizza warned against expecting another one-sided contest at the Rugby League World Cup.

“It’s not banned — but we’ve done all our learning from Vegas now,” Barrow said after England’s opening victory over Wales, in comments published by NRL.com.

He described the March 2025 defeat as “buried” and pointed to the changes in his squad before the rematch at HBF Park on 24 October.

What has changed for England Women?

England’s World Cup squad includes five players from Australia’s NRLW competition, including new internationals Jasmin Strange and Hope Millard.

They join Georgia Roche, Fran Goldthorp and Hollie-Mae Dodd in bringing experience of the Australian league to Barrow’s group.

England began with a 70-6 victory over Wales, with Connie Boyd scoring a hat-trick on debut. Anna Davies also crossed three times, while Isabel Rowe’s 26 points equalled England’s women’s international record.

Australia expect a tougher World Cup contest

Nizza said on Monday that Australia anticipated a stronger challenge.

“I think England are a very different team to last year, and we know they’ll come out with a different intensity,” she said, according to AAP’s report.

Australia opened their title defence with a 40-0 win over Samoa. Saturday will provide a much sterner measure of England’s progress than their opening victory.