England crush Women's World Cup debutants Wales

Tries: Boyd 3, Davies 3, Brown 2, Rowe 2, Wilson, Dodd, Strange Goals: Rowe 9

Try: Travis Goal: Preston

For a moment, when Paige Travis bundled over the line to spark wild celebrations, Wales were in dreamland.

On their Women's World Cup debut, they had scored against England, taking advantage of multiple English errors to deservedly pull level inside the opening 10 minutes.

Wales could dream of causing a major upset. By half-time, though, England had thoroughly disabused Wales of that notion.

The shock of conceding against a team they had scored 114 points against without reply in two previous meetings brought renewed focus to Stu Barrow's England team, who are aiming to reach a World Cup final for the first time.

They scored seven tries before the break and 13 in total on their way to a comprehensive 70-6 victory in Perth in their Group A opener.

Wing Anna Davies and debutant Connie Boyd scored hat-tricks in Perth, while Izzy Rowe scored two tries and kicked nine conversions for 26 points - equalling the record for the most points by an individual England player in a Women's World Cup match.

"You can't keep a clean sheet every game, but I thought the response after was really positive." England coach Barrow told his post-match media conference.

"It's a new group with new combinations and timings. Once we settled in after 10 minutes we played nice football.

"I am pleased we did 70 to 80% of what I looked for."

Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand

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Women's Rugby League World Cup: England score 70 in emphatic win over Wales

While Wales provided threat going forwards, in defence they provided little resistance as England's powerful attack pierced through with frightening ease.

A slick move after three minutes of this Group A match resulted in Amelia Brown scoring the England opener, before Wales got their time in the sun.

A series of England errors allowed Wales to apply pressure, and they deservedly scored through Travis - who represented England at the World Cup four years ago.

The shock concession brought England focus, and a well-constructed move ended in Georgia Wilson scoring in the corner.

From then, England were motoring.

Hollie-Mae Dodd's drive and offload ended in Boyd scoring her first, before Dodd deservedly got on the scoresheet herself, following up after Fran Goldthorp was held up on the line.

On 27 minutes, a quick move of the ball through hands to the left allowed Boyd to power through, before Davies ran more than half the length of the field to score under the posts.

Rowe got a try of her own before the interval, making it 40-6 at half-time.

The heavy scoring continued after the break.

Another debutant, Jasmin Strange - one of two heritage players not born in England - also bagged her first try, before Rowe rolled over her second.

The match was summed up by England's 10th try, when a promising Wales attack involved a chipped kick to the corner, but the bounce went kindly for Brown behind her own try line.

Brown raced 109 metres up to the other end to score one of the longest-range tries in women's rugby league history, and thoroughly demoralise Wales.

Boyd and Davies wrapped it up with three tries in the final five minutes.

When England and Wales met for the first time, at Headingley in 2024, England won 82-0 in a match which could be best described as women against girls.

Two years down the line, they took to the field as teams who had each earned their spot on the World Cup stage - but England showed why they remain by far the more dominant force.

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England will now look ahead to facing co-hosts Australia next Saturday. They suffered a 90-4 hammering in Las Vegas in their most recent meeting in 2025.

Barrow said that was in the past for England and lessons had been learned. He will now give that game his full attention after admitting he and the team were more concerned with dinner than Australia's opening win against Samoa on Friday.

"We watched Australia with half an eye; our focus was all about today and we were as a group," he said.

"Our focus now switches to that, so that game will be on at the hotel when we get back, I will watch it properly then.

"There's lots of work to do this week, we are looking forward to the challenge."

In Saturday's other women's game, co-hosts Papua New Guinea defeated France 58-4 in Group B.