England Rugby League Head Coach Slams World Cup Travel Schedule
Brian McDermott likens team's journey to a chaotic comedy, citing exhaustion and lack of preparation after a lengthy, convoluted trip to their World Cup base.
England's Rugby League World Cup campaign has been severely hampered by a travel itinerary that head coach Brian McDermott described as being akin to the chaotic journey in the film "Planes, Trains and Automobiles." The team arrived in Perth, their base for the tournament, after a nearly 48-hour trip that left players exhausted.
"We were going around the world 15 times to arrive in Perth. We were [exhausted] for about three days afterwards," McDermott told reporters. He quipped that the team might have shared a flight with the film's protagonists, Steve Martin and John Candy. The coach was forced to shorten Monday's training session due to the lingering effects of the travel.
The convoluted route, reportedly planned by the International Rugby League (IRL), involved UK-based players taking a bus to London, flying to Singapore, then on to Sydney before a final flight back to Western Australia. This indirect path meant England completed only two full training sessions before their opening match against Tonga, which they lost 30-12.
The team has not played since losing the third Ashes Test to Australia in November 2025 under McDermott's predecessor, Shaun Wane. "I think we did really well, and if you give me another two or three weeks preparation or another couple of games of preparation leading into the tournament, I'd be really excited," McDermott said. He took charge in April following Wane's departure.
England now faces a challenging path to the semi-finals. They must defeat France on Saturday and Papua New Guinea on Friday, October 30, and hope for favorable results in other matches. Their task is complicated by Samoa's dominant 78-4 victory over France, which has left England with a significantly worse points difference.
The tournament's format has also drawn criticism. While Pool A features four teams competing for two semi-final spots, Pools B and C are combined into a six-team league where only the top two advance. England, in Pool B, is playing teams from Pool C, a structure McDermott acknowledged has made their situation more precarious.
"The jeopardy of losing one game is so harsh, it's almost like we don't get another chance to straighten things out," McDermott stated. He noted that while New Zealand also lost their opening game, their path to qualification is less complicated.
McDermott has named an unchanged 19-man squad to face France, with Matty Ashton replacing Zach Eckersley on the wing. The head coach refrained from directly criticizing the tournament hosts or organizers, explaining that the condensed format and unusual travel were necessary because Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea stepped in to host at short notice after France withdrew for financial reasons.
"You've got to give Australia a lot of credit for taking it on the last minute. But because they [France] haven't, I completely understand that it has to be reduced to a 10-team competition, which is not the easiest thing to do and then we end up in situations like this," he concluded.