Australia 28–20 England — Group A, 2013 Rugby League World Cup
26 Oct 2013 · Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales · Attendance: 45,052
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Group A, 2013 Rugby League World Cup: Australia 28–20 England, at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales on 26 Oct 2013.
Scorers
| Australia | Tries: Bird; Boyd; Morris; Slater; Thurston Goals: Thurston (4/6) |
| England | Tries: Burgess; Charnley; Cudjoe; Hall Goals: Sinfield (2/4) |
Teams
| Australia | England | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Billy Slater | Fullback | Sam Tomkins | 1 |
| 2 | Brett Morris | Wing | Josh Charnley | 2 |
| 3 | Brent Tate | Centre | Kallum Watkins | 3 |
| 4 | Greg Inglis | Centre | Leroy Cudjoe | 4 |
| 5 | Darius Boyd | Wing | Ryan Hall | 5 |
| 6 | Johnathan Thurston | Stand off/Five eighth | Rangi Chase | 6 |
| 7 | Cooper Cronk | Scrum half/Half back | Kevin Sinfield (c) | 7 |
| 8 | Matthew Scott | Prop forward | Chris Hill | 8 |
| 9 | Cameron Smith (c) | Hooker | James Roby | 9 |
| 10 | James Tamou | Prop forward | George Burgess | 10 |
| 11 | Greg Bird | Second row | Brett Ferres | 11 |
| 12 | Sam Thaiday | Second row | Ben Westwood | 12 |
| 13 | Paul Gallen | Loose forward/Lock forward | Sam Burgess | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | Robbie Farah | Gareth Widdop | 14 | |
| 15 | Andrew Fifita | Carl Ablett | 15 | |
| 16 | Luke Lewis | Thomas Burgess | 16 | |
| 17 | Corey Parker | Lee Mossop | 17 | |
| Tim Sheens | Coach | Steve McNamara | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Henry Perenara (New Zealand) |
| Touch judges | Robert Hicks — single-sourced, Grant Atkins — single-sourced |
| Player of the match | Johnathan Thurston (Australia) |
Match report
Australia opened the 2013 World Cup with a 28-20 win over England at the Millennium Stadium, Johnathan Thurston named player of the match as Australia led 18-10 at half-time before holding off a spirited England comeback.
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
- 2000 Rugby League World Cup (Group A): England 2–22 Australia
- 2008 Rugby League World Cup (Group A): Australia 52–4 England
- 2017 Rugby League World Cup (Group A): Australia 18–4 England
- 2017 Rugby League World Cup (Final): Australia 6–0 England