Australia 18–4 England — Group A, 2017 Rugby League World Cup
27 Oct 2017 · AAMI Park, Melbourne, Australia · Attendance: 22,724
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Group A, 2017 Rugby League World Cup: Australia 18–4 England, at AAMI Park, Melbourne, Australia on 27 Oct 2017.
Scorers
| Australia | Tries: Dugan; Gillett; Slater Goals: Smith (3/4) |
| England | Tries: McGillvary Goals: Widdop (0/1) |
Teams
| Australia | England | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Billy Slater | Fullback | Jonny Lomax | 1 |
| 2 | Dane Gagai | Wing | Jermaine McGillvary | 2 |
| 3 | Will Chambers | Centre | Kallum Watkins | 3 |
| 4 | Josh Dugan | Centre | John Bateman | 4 |
| 5 | Valentine Holmes | Wing | Ryan Hall | 5 |
| 6 | Michael Morgan | Stand off/Five eighth | Gareth Widdop | 6 |
| 7 | Cooper Cronk | Scrum half/Half back | Luke Gale | 7 |
| 8 | Aaron Woods | Prop forward | Chris Hill | 8 |
| 9 | Cameron Smith (c) | Hooker | Josh Hodgson | 9 |
| 10 | David Klemmer | Prop forward | James Graham | 10 |
| 11 | Boyd Cordner | Second row | Sam Burgess | 11 |
| 12 | Matt Gillett | Second row | Elliott Whitehead | 12 |
| 13 | Jake Trbojevic | Loose forward/Lock forward | Sean O'Loughlin (c) | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | Wade Graham | Chris Heighington | 15 | |
| 15 | Jordan McLean | Thomas Burgess | 16 | |
| 16 | Josh McGuire | James Roby | 17 | |
| 17 | Tyson Frizell | Ben Currie | 18 | |
| Mal Meninga | Coach | Wayne Bennett | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Matt Cecchin — single-sourced |
| Touch judges | Chris Kendall — single-sourced, Chris Butler — single-sourced |
| Player of the match | Billy Slater (Australia) — single-sourced |
Match report
Australia opened the 2017 World Cup with an 18-4 win over England at AAMI Park, Josh Dugan, Matt Gillett and Billy Slater scoring tries against a lone Jermaine McGillvary reply, with Billy Slater named player of the match.
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
- 2013 Rugby League World Cup (Group A): Australia 28–20 England
- 2017 Rugby League World Cup (Final): Australia 6–0 England
Sources
- 2017 Rugby League World Cup final — Wikipedia
- Rugby League World Cup: Australia beat England 6-0 to retain trophy — BBC Sport
- Famous Fixtures: Australia v England | 2017 Rugby League World Cup Final — rugby-league.com
- Australia 6-0 England: Kangaroos win Rugby League World Cup — Sky Sports
- 2017 Rugby League World Cup Final Team Lists & Officials — League Unlimited
- 2017 Rugby League World Cup — Wikipedia (full group/knockout results)