Rugby League World Cup can’t come soon enough 

England took the next step in their preparations for a historic World Cup with a comfortable win over France. 

Scoring seven tries in a 36-10 victory in Warrington, England demonstrated their potential to rival traditional favourites Australia and New Zealand in a Rugby League World Cup that will see the women’s, men’s and wheelchair tournaments all held at the same time. 

The tournament, hosted in England, begins on October 15 and concludes November 19. 

A youthful crowd at Warrington, many of them young girls loving the quality of play and party atmosphere, watched England navigate an awkward opponent.  

Before the match, the big story was a debut for Courtney Winfield-Hill, the former Big Bash cricketer in Australia and captain of Leeds, who qualifies to play for England through the residency rule, and she did not disappoint with a solid introduction to this new level. 

Hollie Dodd opened the scoring for England and this was quickly followed by Caitlin Beevers dotting down in the corner after good work from Winfield-Hill and Jodie Cunningham. 

The speed of Amy Hardcastle was enough to breach the French defence for her 20th try but the visitors did get in the board with a clever score from dummy half Cristina Song Puche. 

After the break, however, England were ruthless. Hardcastle added another score, Georgia Roche scored two quick tries and Fran Goldthorp finished off a fine display that merely heightens the expectation for the autumn festival of Rugby League.