England 2–22 Australia — Group A, 2000 Rugby League World Cup
28 Oct 2000 · Twickenham Stadium, London, England · Attendance: 33,758
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Group A, 2000 Rugby League World Cup: England 2–22 Australia, at Twickenham Stadium, London, England on 28 Oct 2000.
Scorers
| England | Tries: Gidley; MacDougall; Sailor (2) Goals: Rogers (3) |
| Australia | Goals: Farrell (1) |
Teams
| England | Australia | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kris Radlinski | Fullback | Darren Lockyer | 1 |
| 2 | Leon Pryce | Wing | Mat Rogers | 2 |
| 3 | Scott Naylor | Centre | Ryan Girdler | 3 |
| 4 | Keith Senior | Centre | Matthew Gidley | 4 |
| 5 | Chev Walker | Wing | Wendell Sailor | 5 |
| 6 | Tony Smith | Stand off/Five eighth | Brad Fittler (c) | 6 |
| 7 | Sean Long | Scrum half/Half back | Brett Kimmorley | 7 |
| 8 | Harvey Howard | Prop forward | Shane Webcke | 8 |
| 9 | Paul Rowley | Hooker | Andrew Johns | 9 |
| 10 | Stuart Fielden | Prop forward | Robbie Kearns | 10 |
| 11 | Adrian Morley | Second row | Gorden Tallis | 11 |
| 12 | Mike Forshaw | Second row | Bryan Fletcher | 12 |
| 13 | Andy Farrell (c) | Loose forward/Lock forward | Scott Hill | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | Paul Wellens | Adam MacDougall | 14 | |
| 15 | Kevin Sinfield | Jason Croker | 15 | |
| 16 | Darren Fleary | Darren Britt | 16 | |
| 17 | Paul Anderson | Jason Stevens | 17 | |
| John Kear | Coach | Chris Anderson | ||
Match officials
| Referee | David Pakieto — single-sourced (no BBC Sport report could be located) |
| Touch judges | Not identified in sources found |
| Player of the match | Not identified in sources found |
Match report
Australia became the first side to play rugby league at Twickenham, and duly dominated it, leading 8-2 at half-time before pulling clear for a 22-2 win over the tournament hosts. Wendell Sailor scored twice either side of further tries from Matthew Gidley and Adam MacDougall, with Mat Rogers kicking three goals; England's only points came from an Andy Farrell penalty, with the hosts unable to cross the tryline against the eventual champions.
Previous World Cup meetings
- 1975 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Australia 10–10 England
- 1975 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): England 16–13 Australia
- 1975 Rugby League World Cup (Challenge Match): England 0–25 Australia
- 1995 Rugby League World Cup (Group A): England 20–16 Australia
- 1995 Rugby League World Cup (Final): Australia 16–8 England
- 2008 Rugby League World Cup (Group A): Australia 52–4 England
- 2013 Rugby League World Cup (Group A): Australia 28–20 England
- 2017 Rugby League World Cup (Group A): Australia 18–4 England
- 2017 Rugby League World Cup (Final): Australia 6–0 England