Just two weeks out from the Rugby League World Cup kicking off, the UK and Ireland’s exclusive broadcasters, Premier Sports, have announced their broadcast and punditry team.
Premier Sports landed the deal to showcase all of the games that England’s men’s, women’s, and wheelchair sides will compete in at this year’s Rugby League World Cup, with the semi-finals and final of each competition also aired.
It’s now been confirmed that they will also air the games that Wales’ women’s and wheelchair sides play, as well as Ireland’s and Scotland’s wheelchair sides.
Leading the presenting of that coverage is Sky Sports’ Megan Wellens and she will be joined by 2026 Women’s Super League-winning coach Leon Pryce, who led York Valkyrie to the title in just his first year in charge.
Remarkably, only one of Pryce’s York players will represent England at this year’s World Cup, but several of Emily Rudge’s St Helens teammates will, with the retiring Rudge also announced as part of the broadcasting team.
Kevin Brown, who has regularly appeared on both Sky Sports and BBC, is the third and final analyst with the former half-back playing in the 2017 Rugby League World Cup Final, the last time the event was held in Australia.
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Every Rugby League World Cup game that will be broadcast in the UK
As well as confirming their broadcast team, Premier Sports have also confirmed each and every game that they will broadcast with a total of seven games for the men’s tournament to be shown, eight for the women’s tournament, and 12 for the wheelchair tournament, for a total of 27.
Fans will have to pay £18.99 for a monthly pass is they want to watch though with Premier Sports a subscription-based channel, and the World Cup going behind a paywall was something that caused upset at the time with government minister Lisa Nandy calling for some form of free-to-air coverage to exist.
The decision was defended by International Rugby League with the IRL’s Troy Grant stating: “The BBC got given the rights for free and the strategy was to get more eyeballs on the game – and it did. It worked, but we can’t run World Cups for free.
The BBC were invited to tender, like everyone was, and we’re really happy with our partner in Premier Sports.”
A list of all of the games that Premier Sports will show can be seen below.
Men’s Rugby League World Cup 2026 games
| Thursday 15 October | Australia v New Zealand | KO 10.05am | Premier Sports 2 |
| Saturday 17 October | England v Tonga | KO 10.05am | Premier Sports 1 |
| Saturday 24 October | England v France | KO 7.35am | Premier Sports 1 |
| Friday 30 October | England v Papua New Guinea | KO 9.05am | Premier Sports 1 |
| Saturday 7 November | Semi Final 1 | KO 9.05am | Premier Sports 1 |
| Sunday 8 November | Semi Final 2 | KO 9.05am | Premier Sports 1 |
| Sunday 15 November | The Final | KO 8.35am | Premier Sports 1 |
Women’s Rugby League World Cup 2026 games
| Saturday 17 October | England v Wales | KO 7.35am | Premier Sports 1 |
| Friday 23 October | Fetu Samoa v Wales | KO 7.45am | Premier Sports 2 |
| Saturday 24 October | Australia v England | KO 10.35am | Premier Sports 1 |
| Friday 30 October | England v Fetu Samoa | KO 6.45am | Premier Sports 1 |
| Sunday 1 November | Australia v Wales | KO 4.40am | Premier Sports 1 |
| Saturday 7 November
Sunday 8 November |
Semi Final 1
Semi Final 2 |
KO 6.45am KO 6.45am |
Premier Sports 1
Premier Sports 1 |
| Sunday 15 November | The Final | KO 5.10am | Premier Sports 1 |
Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup 2026 games
| Friday 30 October | Ireland v USA | KO 2am | Premier Sports 2 |
| Friday 30 October | England v Wales | KO 4.30am | Premier Sports 2 |
| Saturday 31 October | France v Scotland | KO 4am | Premier Sports 1 |
| Tuesday 3 November | Australia v Scotland | KO 2.30am | Premier Sports 2 |
| Tuesday 3 November Tuesday 3 November Friday 6 November Friday 6 November Friday 6 November |
Ireland v Wales
England v USA Scotland v New Zealand Wales v USA England v Ireland |
KO 5am
KO 7.30am KO 12am KO 2.30am KO 6am |
Premier Sports 2 Premier Sports 2 Premier Sports 2 Premier Sports 2 Premier Sports 2 |
| Saturday 7 November
Sunday 8 November |
Semi Final 1
Semi Final 2 |
KO 6.45am
KO 6.45am |
Premier Sports 1
Premier Sports 1 |
| Sunday 15 November | The Final | KO 5.10am | Premier Sports 1 |
🏉 Meet our Rugby League World Cup 2026 team!
Megan Wellens presents England’s men’s and women’s games, joined in studio by former England stars Leon Pryce, Kevin Brown and Emily Rudge 🏴
🎙️ England commentary comes from Channel 7’s Andrew Voss and England’s most-capped player… pic.twitter.com/krgY3BSHvc
— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) October 1, 2026
The Joker
October 1, 2026 at 1:11 pm
I won’t be watching any of it, so I don’t care which muppets they have!
Eric T Cat
October 1, 2026 at 2:41 pm
You are not alone, from watching every match of the last World Cup, and the one before that, I win’s be bothering. Only showing the handful of games is a disgrace, one of the best matches I ever saw was a 20-20;draw between Tonga and PNG at the Boulevard, it was like it was being played to the death! The ball was lava, the intensity was incredible, it truly mattered to the players, a brilliant spectacle. Now at £18.99 you get 7 matches? Why bother. I wonder how many will bother.
As for Muppets, the Muppet show is on Disney+, old episodes, and they threw it in with my Sky subscription, I’ll watch muppets and enjoy a good laugh instead.
This season about to end I ended nt Sky Sports subscription, I watched the dire offerings of the BBC, synvhing the sound to the radio if Sharon Shortlre was commentating, I can only stand so many cliches and her voice grates to my ears. I found myself turning games off. I lost interest halfway through Wigan vs Wakefield. I’m relieved the final isn’t on free to air TV. Rugby League have encouraged me to stop watching. 50c years, and the RFL have managed to kill my interest in the sport.
My brother in law, who played for Hull FC, gave it up years ago. I think the sport is haemorrhaging fans, I give it another few years it will be fully amateur, played almost in secret denied TV coverage.