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Key events
18 mins: Just as I type that Fa’asuamaleaui is penalised for a knock-on. But he calls for a captain’s challenge – and he’s successful – with the bunker taking no time to identify Marshall-King’s strip. Australia needed that.
16 mins: New Zealand are purring now. Ponga gets involved on the left and feeds McLean over halfway. Hughes targets Mulitalo again on the last and Trbojevic doesn’t look happy defending it but just about does enough to settle things down with a dropout. Munster takes it – and it’s an absolute hack – allowing the Kiwis a golden opportunity, but it’s wasted! Marshall-King is too slow at the ruck, Fa’asuamaleaui is sharp from marker, and he spoils the pass forward. Fa’asuamaleaui has been superb early for the Kangaroos.
14 mins: Penalty for New Zealand against Grant on Fisher-Harris on the first play after the restart. The Kiwis have the ascendancy now after Australia’s fast start.
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 6-6 New Zealand (McLean, 12)
Ponga begins to insert himself into the fray, stalking the New Zealand backline like a second five-eighth. He can’t fashion anything this time though but his grubber on the last is knocked on and the Kiwis get another shot. Nikora almost forces his way on the right edge, the ball comes out and Papali’i goes close on the left edge. Nikorima is everywhere, feeding short passes, accepting offloads, and then he finds a brilliant assist, delaying his pass, pushing the ball in front of the onrushing defender for McLean to accept, step inside Staggs and power through Trbojevic! This is superb entertainment.
Jamayne Isaako overtakes Shaun Johnson as the top scoring Kiwi of all time with a routine conversion.
10 mins: Excellent defence from New Zealand, denying Australia’s playmakers space from a full set just 30m out. This is typified on the last tackle with Munster hassled into a hurried kick that is marked in-goal. With the seven tackle set the Kiwis travel 70m before Hughes sends a menacing garryowen miles into the sky. Walsh and Mulitalo leap. Both men crash to the ground spectacularly. Knock-on Australia! New Zealand celebrate – Mulitalo mercilessly – and the Kiwis get their first A1 attacking opportunity.
8 mins: The drop-out goes long and the Kiwis come straight back. Papali’i looks like he’s broken through on the left edge – but Fa’asuamaleaui makes a magnificent try-saving tackle! The kick on the last to the right is penetrating but Bostock is strong in the air! Australia keep things simple in response but it suddenly becomes a serious incursion when Bostock robs Isaako one-on-one after the New Zealander marked Munster’s bomb only to have his pocket pinched by his Dolphins teammate.
6 mins: New Zealand need a steadying set and they get it courtesy of a thundering Tapine drive through the corridor. Not only that but he finds the offload that allows the Kiwis to make ground through Gagai on the right. Hughes can bomb dangerously on the last but the Australian defence deals with it – initially at least – because from the play-the-ball Trbojevic is muscled in goal to force a drop out.
4 mins: Australia shift the restart through hands from right to left to Bostock, looking to move New Zealand’s middles early. Grant schemes from dummy-half, and Munster completes the set with a long kick to Ponga. Kevin Walters must not be able to believe his luck, this is exactly what he wanted his team to do.
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 6-0 New Zealand (Martin, 2)
That wasn’t even close from Isaako, who clearly had his pregame Weet-Bix. Australia will open the final from attacking 30. A couple of one-out drives precede a nice move that sees Dearden almost feeding Preston through on the left edge. The switch to the right is held up, but from a quick play-the-ball Grant dummies, Martin steams onto the crash play and Australia score!
Munster adds the extras from just to the right of the uprights and the hosts are off to the most incredible flyer!
1 mins New Zealand belt the kick-off out on the full!
Kick-off!
The 2026 men’s rugby league world cup final is under way…
The Kiwis advance to halfway. The Kangaroos remain in a curved formation on their 40m line. The face-off is intense. It is on.
New Zealand’s players huddle, readying themselves for their Te Iwi Kiwi haka.
Less emotion in the Aussie camp as Walsh looks to the heavens with a broad smile on his face at the conclusion of Advance Australia Fair.
There are tears streaming down the cheeks of Jamayne Issako and Ronaldo Mulitalo as the Kiwis sing their national anthem. Man mountains Fisher-Harris and Joseph Tapine scrunch their eyes tightly as they fight to retain composure.
Finally, former Penrith Panther teammates James Fisher-Harris and Issah Yeo lead their sides out onto the field.
Reece Walsh, glistening with muscle rub, shorts hitched over his burnished thighs, flaunting neon pink boots, struts onto the turf like a man who knows this is his stage.
The Kangaroos have been stood in the tunnel for quite some time now waiting for the Kiwis to join them. The mind games have started early.
The atmosphere is building nicely inside a sweaty Suncorp Stadium. Plenty of support for New Zealand on display, as well as a few England jerseys and flags from Pacific Island nations.
I’m sure you need no reminding but Australia are wearing their traditional green uniform with gold piping, New Zealand are top to toe in black with flashes of white.
The lights have dimmed at Suncorp Stadium in preparation for the pregame formalities, beginning with a couple of young ‘uns bringing the match-ball onto the field, followed by Darren Lockyer and Mark Graham placing the Paul Barrière Trophy on a plinth in front of the tunnel for the competing players to admire on their way into battle.
Experienced Australian Grant Atkins will be in charge of today’s match. The 2025 NRL grand final referee took charge of New Zealand’s semi-final v Tonga, as well as the Kiwis’ hammering of Fiji, when he sent off Ronaldo Mulitalo.
Trent Robinson has been a superb addition to rugby league punditry this world cup. The Roosters premiership-winning coach has shone on what has been pretty rickety coverage here in Australia, and right now he is explaining precisely how the competing fullbacks will attempt to break open the game. Hopefully he remains a prominent public voice because his ability to communicate a sport that is so often reduced to variations of ‘who wants it more’ is very much welcomed.
Kangaroos coach Kevin Walters is keeping things simple.
The bigger the game you simpler you keep it. Focus in on the first few sets and that we get out of the blocks well. That’s important in big games, to start well. Then you build your game off that.
Defensively, just making sure that middles are doing their job, big forward pack they’re up against and world class. And then connecting with our edges and with the footy, just making sure we flow with our attack and play to our strengths. We have some good strike in our side. Need to make sure we use that at the right times.
Kalyn Ponga has been spoken about. Their middle forwards are tough to control and get a bit of an advantage through there. So again, we’ve gone across all of their players.
Where the world cup final will be won and lost.
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Up front Australia need to match New Zealand’s power and provide a platform that was lacking in round one. Easier said than done considering the awesome talent in black with the likes of James Fisher-Harris, Moses Leota, and Joseph Tapine at the very peak of their powers and Naufahu Whyte and Erin Clark coming off the bench. The Kangaroos got away with a pasting a month ago but if the green and gold pack concedes so much territory again surely the outcome will be different.
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One Melbourne Storm playmaker will leave with a winner’s medal, his longtime halves partner will have to settle for silver. Cameron Munster began the world cup slowly but hit top form last time out. Jahrome Hughes has not been his Dally M Medal winning self in 2026 but his ability to run from first receiver and kick to targets in the red zone will keep Australia’s defence on its toes.
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Speaking of Munster, it is staggering to me that the part-time goal-kicker will be trusted with kicking duties in a match of this magnitude. In his 250+ NRL appearances he has only attempted 81 shots at goal, landing just 47 of them. By contrast, Jamayne Isaako has led the NRL for goalkicking for the past four seasons. With such fine margins between these sides, and coaches likely to take two points when offered, it seems like an enormous risk for Kevin Walters to take, especially with a dead-eye like Sam Walker pushing for place in the starting XIII.
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Where we all hope the world cup final will be won and lost is surely the winner of the No 1 duel between Reece Walsh and Kalyn Ponga. The pair put on a heavyweight masterclass in the opening match, since when Ponga has recovered from a fractured arm and Walsh has held off the challenge of James Tedesco for his place in the side. The two most dynamic, exciting, and mercurial talents in the sport going head to head on the biggest stage; may the best man win.
As Munster mentioned, it has been a muggy day in Brisbane. Temperatures have been in the high-20s, made to feel stifling with little wind and plenty of cloud cover leading to high humidity. Thunderstorms are drifting across south east Queensland but none are forecast to pass over Lang Park during the 80 minutes of action. It is a full house, of course.
New Zealand’s Kalyn Ponga is locked in.
I’m nervous. It just means so much to so many people, what we’re representing and what’s ahead of us. That’s why I’m so nervous. But obviously it’s because I care and I’m so excited.
Australian five-eighth Cameron Munster is all about the details.
Hopefully the boys are ready for the occasion. I know the Kiwis will.
We can’t afford to have lapses. You look at the Kotoni Staggs 10 in the bin, myself with KP, getting outside me and obviously that back three mishap when we got the ball back what they were offside. Could’ve been a different story if that wasn’t the case. So we gotta play our best.
Obviously you’re in the hot weather, we have to complete well and shift the ball. They have a big forward pack, so we have to make sure we move them around.
In today’s early match Australia’s Jillaroos continued their domination of women’s rugby league.
In northern Australia, they call this time of the year “the build up” – a sub-tropical rise in heat and pressure where dark clouds roil and minds melt before the heavens open. At Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium, it was Australia’s Jillaroos who brought the storm, dominating their New Zealand rivals from the get-go and raining down six first-half tries to win 34-10 and thunder their way to a fourth consecutive World Cup title.
Already this weekend England defended their Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup title, defeating France in the final for the second tournament in a row.
The English and the French have been the two dominant nations in the wheelchair game, sharing the previous four World Cup titles between them. On the field, they have produced thunderous and often controversial encounters but off it, there is great respect in a sport that allows disabled and able-bodied athletes to compete alongside one another.
The two nations served up another classic in Australia on Friday, with England emerging victorious to back up their win on home soil against France four years ago. The winning margin may have been 12 points but the contest was much closer for almost the whole match, with a late second-half flurry of points from the English proving decisive.
Aaron Bower sets the scene ahead of a predictable match-up at the end of a refreshing tournament.
For all the change witnessed this autumn, one wonders if the most significant change would be a nation other than Australia lifting the trophy. With the World Cup heading to the US and Pacific in 2030, a new champion could breathe fresh life into an international game that feels on the verge of reaching new heights.
Team news
Kangaroos: Kevin Walters made his key decisions ahead of the third pool match, since when his team has performed at a progressively higher level as players have grown into their roles. The only tweak to the semi-final squad is the late inclusion of James Tedesco on the bench with the fullback replacing Latrell Mitchell, who was withdrawn with illness on Saturday after being listed earlier in the week.
Kiwis: This is the same XIII that started against Australia in the opening match of the tournament five weeks ago, and there is only one change on the bench with the then-suspended Phoenix Crossland coming in for Keano Kini. Kini was on the interchange last week but has been pushed out of the matchday squad with the return from suspension of Ronaldo Mulitalo.
New Zealand XIII
1. Kalyn Ponga 2. Jamayne Isaako 3. Dane Gagai 4. Casey McLean 5. Ronaldo Mulitalo 6. Kodi Nikorima 7. Jahrome Hughes 8. James Fisher-Harris (c) 9. Jeremy Marshall-King 10. Moses Leota 11. Isaiah Papali’i 12. Briton Nikora 13. Joseph Tapine
Interchange: 14. Te Maire Martin 15. Naufahu Whyte 16. Erin Clark 17. Xavier Willison 19. Phoenix Crossland 20. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad. Reserve: 21. Scott Sorensen
Australia XIII
1. Reece Walsh 2. Jack Bostock 3. Kotoni Staggs 4. Bradman Best 5. Tom Trbojevic 6. Cameron Munster 7. Tom Dearden 15. Keaon Koloamatangi 9. Harry Grant 10. Tino Fa’asuamaleaui 11. Jacob Preston 12. Liam Martin 13. Isaah Yeo (c).
Interchange: 8. Patrick Carrigan, 14. Ethan Strange, 16. Cameron Murray, 17. Reuben Cotter, 21. Sam Walker, 22. James Tedesco. Reserve: Blayke Brailey.
Preamble
Jonathan Howcroft
Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of Australia v New Zealand in the final of the 2026 men’s Rugby League World Cup. Kick-off at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane is 6.35pm local time (7.35pm AEDT/8.35am GMT).
After 17 matches, featuring 10 nations, across three countries, it all comes down to this: Kangaroos v Kiwis for the title of the greatest rugby league team in the world.
That the final fixture of the tournament is a repeat of the first was to be expected. Despite the enormous recent strides made by Samoa and Tonga, the semi-finals demonstrated the Pacific Islanders remain a rung behind their more established counterparts. England’s absence from the knockout stages will be the subject of an inquest.
It has been a successful, enjoyable, competition, one that has thrived off the energy provided by the Pasifika. The passion of the pregame challenges, the sea of flags in the stands, and the commitment of players who could have nominated for Australia or New Zealand has ensured a consistent supply of entertainment.
The Kangaroos, the defending champions, on home soil, have been a slow burn. They were fortunate to win their opener, and failed in key areas in their next two matches, before finally showing World Cup winning form last time out.
Reece Walsh has been the standout, holding off James Tedesco for the No 1 jersey then dazzling with his trademark runs. Cameron Munster returned to his old self against Samoa after a quiet few weeks, and the bench has provided plenty of spark. Crucially, the forward pack hit form in the semi-finals after a humbling run of matches that saw Origin enforcers well beaten by their opposite numbers.
As the old adage goes, it’s forwards that win matches, backs decide by how much. The first pack to put Australia under the cosh was New Zealand’s. The Kiwis have an awesome half-dozen on the field to begin with, backed up by the NRL’s form prop and loose forward on the bench. Behind them they boast Kalyn Ponga, the recently crowned IRL Golden Boot winner, and at the moment the most devastating player in the sport. Jahrome Hughes caught fire against Tonga, and he will have Ronaldo Mulitalo to kick to in Brisbane after the combustible winger sat out the semi through suspension.
Walsh v Ponga, Munster v Hughes, Isaah Yeo v Joseph Tapine, everywhere you look there are mouthwatering individual battles to savour. Whoever prevails will have well and truly earned the title of world champions.
I’ll be back with final team lists and more shortly. Please send me your emails and keep me company throughout the evening. The address is [email protected].
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