England face 'do or die' World Cup game with Samoa

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England's final group game of the 2026 women's Rugby League World Cup is "do or die", according to coach Stuart Barrow.

Barrow's side must beat Samoa in Wollongong on Friday (06.45 GMT) in order to finish second in Group A and qualify for the semi-finals.

They beat Wales 70-6 in their opener but were thrashed 78-0 by reigning champions Australia in Perth last weekend.

A win would earn England a semi-final spot, where they would most likely face New Zealand, who beat them in the last four of the previous World Cup in 2022.

"We knew we needed four points to reach the semis, and two points would likely have to come from here," Barrow told a media conference on Tuesday. "It is do or die and no-one wants to go home."

After two blow-out results, it is expected that England's final group match will be more evenly matched.

This women's World Cup has produced several mismatched results, with all the heavy defeats suffered by northern hemisphere nations inflicted by those from the south other than England beating Wales.

As well as Australia thumping England, Samoa beat Wales 76-0 and New Zealand defeated France 92-0.

It shows how much the balance of power in global rugby league lies in the southern hemisphere and Samoa's squad consists entirely of players from Australia's semi-pro NRLW, which is of a much higher standard than England's amateur Women's Super League.

Barrow says his side will have learned a lot from their hammering at the hands of co-hosts Australia in Perth last Saturday - which the NRLW described as an "annihilation" in a post on X., external

'Jodie's ear is reattached'

"We have a really young group, who will be better for this experience," he said. "They now know what the game looks like against the best in the world. It was humbling, but the response has been positive.

"The speed of the ball for Australia caught our girls out. The players were saying they have never played in a game so fast in their life. We have had to look at connectivity in our defence.

"It will be a different challenge on Friday. Against Australia our attitude was really good, we were still scrambling to prevent tries in the 69th minute when 70-0 down."

Barrow has had to make changes to his squad following the loss of key player Eva Hunter to a leg injury suffered against Australia.

It has prompted a pack reshuffle, with Hollie-Mae Dodd moving from prop to the back row. Mary Coleman comes in at prop as a result.

"Eve had a scan and we are waiting on the results, but she is definitely out on Friday," Barrow said.

"She's still in her moon boot, but she is surrounded by good people and is relaxed."

England however have been boosted by captain Jodie Cunningham overcoming a nasty ear injury suffered last week and being able to be named on the bench.

Cunningham had to be rushed to hospital straight after the game for stitches to her ear, with the gory damage shared by the skipper via her Instagram page, external.

"Jodie's ear is reattached," Barrow said. "It was not pretty; you would not want your tea straight after seeing it.

"But she taped it up, got on with it [the match against Australia], then straight after the game they went straight to hospital, where they did a great job."

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