England face France in a must-win game at the Rugby League World Cup 2026 after beginning their campaign with a 30-12 defeat to Tonga.
Brian McDermott's side have to beat the French to keep their hopes of reaching the knockout stages alive. France arrive smarting following a 78-4 hammering by Samoa, so England will have to be wary of a wounded beast.
Match details and how to watch
The game takes place on Saturday, October 24, at Perth Rectangular Stadium in Perth, Australia. Kick-off is at 7.35am UK time.
The match will be shown live on Premier Sports 1, and Premier Sports customers can stream it via the Premier Sports app.
Team news
Mikey Lewis has been promoted to the bench after missing out against Tonga. He was initially left out of this one too but now comes in at the expense of Zach Eckersley, who has been left out entirely.
England: AJ Brimson, Dom Young, Hugo Savala, Herbie Farnworth, Matty Ashton, George Williams, Harry Smith, Max King, Brad O'Neill, Luke Thompson, Junior Nsemba, Kai Pearce-Paul, Victor Radley. Replacements: Jez Litten, Ethan Havard, Sam Walters, Ben Currie, Jack Welsby, Mikey Lewis.
What McDermott said
McDermott said: "This is the first hit-out we've had, the first time we came together. We had two field sessions together after the players had a very long journey to get to Perth. They flew over Perth and past Perth to Sydney, and then came back to Perth.
"The players were still feeling those levels of fatigue on the Monday they got here, so we only really had two proper sessions. That's why I'm so confident with the cohesion that we had with that in mind."
