Everything you need to know: 2021 Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup

The squads

Australia: 1 Peter Arbuckle, 5 Cory Cannane, 10 Craig Cannane, 7 Richard Engles, 6 Brad Grove, 3 Shaun Harre, 4 James Hill, 12 Diab Karim, 2 Liam Luff, 11 Bayley McKenna, 8 Zac Schumacher, 8 Adam Tannock

England: 4 Sebastien Bechara, 10 Wayne Boardman, 6 Jack Brown, 1 Nathan Collins, 3 Joe Coyd, 7 Tom Halliwell, 2 Robert Hawkins, 5 Lewis King, 8 Adam Rigby, 9 Declan Roberts, 11 James Simpson

Ireland: 2 Tom Martin, 8 Peter Johnston Jnr, 1 Toby Burton-Carter, 3 Rick Rodgers, 7 Scott Robertson, 9 Phil Roberts, 11 Oran Spain, 10 James McCarthy, 5 Paddy Forbes, 6 Kenneth Maloney, 4 Stephen Campbell, 12 Nash Jennings

Spain: 3 Yannick Martin, 7 Theo Gonzalez, 4 David Raymond, 11 David Berty, 10 Pascal Ambrosino, 8 Will Seron, 1 Joël Lacombe, 2 Raphaël Monedero, 5 Jonathan Palomo, 9 Éric Perez, 6 Julien Ferrere

Players to watch 

England have a wealth of top-level experience to lean on, headed up by captain Tom Halliwell who scored two tries in the Challenge Cup final this year which was won by his Leeds Rhinos side. Australia's Cory Cannane has been the NSW Wheelchair Rugby League competition's leading try-scorer in each of the last four seasons and has been eager for a shot on the international stage, while his teammate Zac Schumacher starred in this year's Origin, scoring four tries.

Although he's one of their least experienced players, keep an eye on Ireland's Toby Burton-Carter, who was their player of the tournament in the Celtic Cup last year, while James McCarthy is an accomplished Paralympic athlete who has previously captained Ireland in the Wheelchair Rugby Six Nations Championship and competed internationally in rowing.

Group B (France, Wales, Scotland, USA)

France are the undisputed giants of wheelchair rugby league and head to this tournament ranked No.1 in the world, having won the last two World Cups. Needless to say they are the raging favourites to win Group B, with a star-studded line-up that includes experienced campaigners like Nicolas Clausells. 

On paper France's biggest opposition in group play looks set to come from third-ranked Wales, who have 11 players in their squad who were part of their Celtic Cup victory last year.

Scotland will benefit from a pre-tournament match against the Wheelaroos, and they have the added bonus of having competed at the last two editions of the tournament, albeit finishing last on each of those occasions. 

USA are very much the dark horse, competing at a World Cup for the very first time and coming into the tournament unranked. 

The Games 

The squads

France: 1 Lionel Alazard, 2 Gilles Clausells, Mostefa Abassi, 4 Jérémy Bourson, 5 Thomas Duhalde, 6 Julien Penella, 7 Arno Vargas, 8 Nicolas Clausells, 9 Yann Verdi, 10 Florian Guttadoro, 11 Jonathan Hivernat, 12 Guillaume Mautz

Scotland: 1 Callum Young, 2 Cayden Thompson, 3 Dave Anderson, 4 Gregor Anderson, 5 Graeme Stewart, 6 Dan Grant, 7 Mike Mellon, 8 Paul Hartley, 9 Connor Blackmore, 10 Dave Birtles, 11 John Willans, 12 Peter Lauder

USA: 1 Jeff Townsend, 2 Jesse Lind, 7 Micah Stewart, 10 William Johnstone, 5 Mackenzie Johnson, 3 Jensen Blaine, 11 Andy Kingsley, 9 Gabi Cha, 12 Tony Leboutillier, 6 Matthew Wooloff, 8 Jabrier Lee, 4 Freddie Smith

Wales: 12 Alan Caron, 6 Andrew Higgins, 3 Gary Preece, 11 Harry Jones, 5 Jodie Boyd-Ward, 8 Lucie Roberts, 10 Mark Williams, 9 Martin Lane, 4 Mason Baker, 2 Scott Trigg-Turner, 1 Stephen Halsey, 7 Stuart Williams

Players to watch

French captain Lionel Alazard is one of the game's biggest stars, and was outstanding against England earlier this year, scoring three tries and nine goals. Jodie Boyd-Ward has been fantastic since breaking through into the Welsh team, while Mark Williams is a prolific and experienced player.

For Scotland, keep an eye on Dan Grant, who broke back into the squad for the first time since 2019 for the mid-season Test against Ireland in June, following a strong run of form for his club side Gravesend.