Next England fixtures confirmed

James Gordon
John Bateman

England’s men and women will return to action in April in a double header against France, to be held at the Halliwell Jones Stadium in Warrington.

After both losing in their respective World Cup semi-finals, the England teams will be looking to build again towards the next tournament in 2025, which will be held in France.

A break has been arranged in the domestic season to enable the fixtures to take place on Saturday April 29, with the women kicking off at 2pm and the men at 4.30pm.

A similar double header between the two nations was played in Perpignan back in October 2021.

Mark Foster, the RFL’s Chief Commercial Officer, said: “This autumn has been another reminder of the importance of our England teams in capturing the imagination of sports fans and TV viewers beyond our regular Rugby League audience.

“We wanted to ensure that our England teams would return to action in front of a home crowd as soon as possible in 2023 – and we are pleased to be able to arrange a double header against France, whose Men’s and Women’s teams will also be moving on from their World Cup campaigns and starting to focus on the exciting prospect of hosting the next tournament in 2025.

“This will be the third consecutive year that we have staged a double header of Women’s and Men’s internationals at Warrington’s Halliwell Jones Stadium, which was the venue for one of the most memorable occasions of the World Cup when the Samoa and Tonga Men’s teams contested a compelling Quarter Final.

“We are also delighted to partner with Rugby League Cares so that ticket buyers can have the opportunity to give back to the Rugby League community during difficult economic times and provide young, disadvantaged fans with the chance to watch their England heroes against France.”

Discussions are continuing with relevant bodies including European Rugby League regarding the 2023 international programme for England’s Wheelchair team – who will play France in the World Cup Final at Manchester Central on Friday night.

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