England vs France WCRLWC2021

England has won the inaugural Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup.

The English claimed the Cup with a very close 28-24 win against archrivals France in the final game of the tournament on Friday in Manchester.

The game went back and forth for the entire contest, and it wasn’t until literally the final seconds of the match when England’s Tom Halliwell scored the game-winning try to clinch victory for the host country.

The French led 14-12 at halftime, but by fulltime, the English team had outscored them by five tries to three.

Again, it was Jack Brown who led England’s charge, as he has done all tournament long, by scoring a brace. His teammate Halliwell also bagged a double, while Lewis King got the other four-pointer. Nathan Collins kicked three goals and Robert Hawkins added one to round out the English scoring.

On France’s side, tries were scored by Mostefa Abassi, Lionel Alazard and Gilles Clausells. Nicolas Clausells kept the French in touch with five conversions and Alazard kicked one as well.

In the end, it was England’s grit and determination that got them home.

Brian is a strong and effective communicator with more than 30 years’ experience in broadcast and electronic media. He has been writing for Rugby League Planet since 2012 and is frequently the first reporter to break news stories about the sport. He has been our North American correspondent reporting on news in the US, Canada and Jamaica covering everything from league standings to strategy analysis to breaking news on key trades to editorials and colourful features on athletes. He is now writing about rugby league on a broader scale to cover developments around the globe. An accomplished storyteller, Brian started his career in Australian radio, before moving to the United States. He is an experienced podcast host and producer and is also a successful TV commentator having done play-by-play and analysis for ESPN, FOX Sports and the Rugby League European Federation (RLEF) among others.