Rugby League World Cup records

Rugby League World Cup records have been accumulating since the first Rugby League World Cup tournament was held in 1954.

This all-time table compares national teams that have participated in the Rugby League World Cup by a number of criteria including matches, wins, losses, draws, total points for, total points against, etc.

This table also shows accumulated points, which treats each match as a group stage match (2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss) and accumulates them together.

As of 2021 World Cup

Team	Part	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Ref
Australia	16	83	71	1	11	2,766	768	+1,998	143	[1]
Cook Islands	3	4	2	1	6	146	358	-212	5	[2]
England	7	38	24	2	12	1,111	560	+551	50	[3]
Fiji	6	24	12	0	12	558	670	-112	24	[4]
France	16	63	16	3	44	675	1,582	-907	35	[5]
Great Britain	9	41	25	3	13	897	487	+410	53	[6]
Greece	1	3	0	0	3	20	200	-200	0	[7]
Ireland	5	16	7	0	10	324	370	-46	14	[8]
Italy	3	9	3	1	5	168	266	-98	7	[9]
Jamaica	1	3	0	0	3	20	190	-170	0	[10]
Lebanon	3	11	3	1	7	227	323	-96	7	[11]
New Zealand	16	74	37	3	34	1,845	1,328	+517	77	[12]
Aotearoa Māori[a]	1	3	1	0	2	49	67	-18	2	[13]
Papua New Guinea	8	35	9	1	25	571	1,106	-535	19	[14]
Russia	1	3	0	0	3	20	224	-204	0	[15]
Samoa	6	23	11	1	11	536	558	-22	23	[16]
Scotland	5	16	3	2	11	194	537	-343	8	[17]
South Africa	2	6	0	0	6	36	322	-286	0	[18]
Tonga	6	20	12	1	7	610	351	+259	25	[19]
United States	2	7	2	0	5	76	288	-212	4	[20]
Wales	6	25	8	0	17	386	637	-251	16	[21]

Top four finishes

Team	Champions	Runners-up	Third / Fourth / Losing Semi-finalists
Australia	12 (1957, 1968, 1970, 1975, 1977, 1988, 1992, 1995, 2000, 2013, 2017, 2021)	3 (1960, 1972, 2008)	1 (1954)
Great Britain	3 (1954, 1960, 1972)	4 (1964, 1970, 1977, 1992)	2 (1968, 1988)
New Zealand	1 (2008)	3 (1985–88, 2000, 2013)	11 (1954, 1957, 1960, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1992, 1995, 2021)
England		3 (1975, 1995, 2017)	4 (2000, 2008, 2013, 2021)
France		2 (1954, 1968)	6 (1957, 1960, 1970, 1972, 1977, 1992)
Samoa		1 (2021)
Wales			3 (1975, 1995, 2000)
Fiji			3 (2008, 2013, 2017)
Papua New Guinea			1 (1988)
Tonga			1 (2017)

• Tournaments between 1954–1992 did not feature semi-final and quarter-final rounds.

Team	Win rate
Australia	75.00%
Great Britain	33.33%
New Zealand	6.67%

Biggest margin of victory^[22]

Rank	Winner	Score	Loser	Points	Year
1	Australia	110–4	Russia	106	2000
2	England	94–4	Greece	90	2021
3	Australia	84–0	Scotland	84	2021
4	Tonga	92–10	Cook Islands	82	2021
5	Australia	86–6	South Africa	80	1995

All-time top player appearances^[23]

Rank	Player	Country(s)	Years	Apps
1	Cameron Smith	Australia	2008–2017	17
2	Chris Hill[24]	England	2013–2022	16
3	Bob Fulton	Australia	1968–1975	15

All-time top try scorers^[23]

Rank	Player	Country(s)	Years	Tries
1	Billy Slater	Australia	2008–2017	16
2	Jarryd Hayne	Australia  Fiji	2008–2017	14
	Ryan Hall[25]	England	2013–2022
	Valentine Holmes[26]	Australia	2017–2022
5	Bob Fulton	Australia	1968–1975	13

All-time top point scorers^[23]

Rank	Player	Country(s)	Years	Points
1	Johnathan Thurston	Australia	2008–2013	124
2	Shaun Johnson	New Zealand	2013–2017	120
3	Mick Cronin	Australia	1975–1977	108
	Michael O'Connor	Australia	1986–1990
5	George Fairbairn	Great Britain  England	1975–1977	92

• Valentine Holmes – 12 ( Australia, 2017)^[27]
• Josh Addo-Carr – 12 ( Australia, 2022)^[28]

• Valentine Holmes – 6 (for  Australia vs.  Fiji, 24 November 2017)^[27]

• Michael O'Connor – 100 ( Australia, 1985–1988)^[23]

• Ryan Girdler – 46 (for  Australia vs.  Russia, 4 November 2000)^[29]

A foreign coach has never managed a World Cup-winning team.

Year	Captain	Coach	Team
1954	Dave Valentine	G Shaw	Great Britain
1957	Dick Poole	Dick Poole	Australia
1960	Eric Ashton	William Fallowfield	Great Britain
1968	Johnny Raper	Harry Bath	Australia
1970	Ron Coote	Harry Bath	Australia
1972	Clive Sullivan	Jim Challinor	Great Britain
1975	Arthur Beetson	Graeme Langlands	Australia
1977	Arthur Beetson	Terry Fearnley	Australia
1988	Wally Lewis	Don Furner	Australia
1992	Mal Meninga	Bob Fulton	Australia
1995	Brad Fittler	Bob Fulton	Australia
2000	Brad Fittler	Chris Anderson	Australia
2008	Nathan Cayless	Stephen Kearney	New Zealand
2013	Cameron Smith	Tim Sheens	Australia
2017	Cameron Smith	Mal Meninga	Australia

The 2013 Rugby League World Cup final at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, drew a world record international rugby league attendance of 74,468.^[30]

Year	Venue	City/Country	Event	Result	Attendance
2013	Old Trafford	Manchester, England	Final	Australia def.  New Zealand 34–2	74,468
1989–92	Wembley Stadium (1923)	London, England	Final	Australia def.  Great Britain 10–6	73,631
2013	Wembley Stadium	London, England	Semi Final (double header)	Australia def.  Fiji 64–0  New Zealand def.  England 20–18	67,575
1995	Wembley Stadium (1923)	London, England	Final	Australia def.  England 16–8	66,540
1968	Sydney Cricket Ground	Sydney, Australia	Group stage	Australia def.  Great Britain 25–10	62,256

Year	Venue	City/Country	Result	Attendance
2013	Old Trafford	Manchester, England	Australia def.  New Zealand 34–2	74,468
1992	Wembley Stadium (1923)	London, England	Australia def.  Great Britain 10–6	73,631
1995	Wembley Stadium (1923)	London, England	Australia def.  England 16–8	66,540
1968	Sydney Cricket Ground	Sydney, Australia	Australia def.  France 20–2	54,290
2008	Suncorp Stadium	Brisbane, Australia	New Zealand def.  Australia 34–20	50,599

Country	Year	Venue	City	Event	Result	Attendance
England	2013	Old Trafford	Manchester	Final	Australia def.  New Zealand 34–2	74,468
Australia	1968	Sydney Cricket Ground	Sydney	Group stage	Australia def.  Great Britain 25–10	62,256
New Zealand	1988	Eden Park	Auckland	Final	Australia def.  New Zealand 25–12	47,363
Wales	2013	Millennium Stadium	Cardiff	Group stage (double header)	Australia def.  England 28–20  Italy def.  Wales 32–16	45,052
France	1954	Stadium de Toulouse	Toulouse	Group stage	France drew with  Great Britain 13–13	37,471
Papua New Guinea	1986	Lloyd Robson Oval	Port Moresby	Group stage	Australia def.  Papua New Guinea 62–12	17,000
Ireland	2013	Thomond Park	Limerick	Group stage	Australia def.  Ireland 50–0	5,021
Northern Ireland	2000	Windsor Park	Belfast	Group stage	Ireland def.  Samoa 30–16	3,207
Scotland	2000	Firhill Stadium	Glasgow	Group stage	Aotearoa Māori def.  Scotland 17–16	2,008

• "World Cup Historical Records". Rugby League Records. Rugby League Record Keepers' Club. Retrieved 12 May 2025.