Ireland national rugby league team

The Four Provinces Flag of Ireland

The Irish rugby league team is one of many Irish teams that draws its players from across the island of Ireland. It utilises the Four Provinces Flag of Ireland and the all-island anthem, "Ireland's Call". Unlike the Irish rugby union team, the Irish rugby league team does not play The Soldier's Song, the national anthem of the Irish state, in addition to Ireland's Call when playing at home.

Ireland were included in the tournament held in England and were placed in Group B alongside Moldova and Morocco. Ireland beat Moldova 48–24 before beating Morocco 42–6 to progress to the final. In the final Ireland lost 6–22 to the Cook Islands at Gigg Lane in Bury.[10] Coached by Terry Flanagan, Ireland's squad included professionals Des Foy and Martin Crompton in an otherwise domestic based squad.

1997 saw more England-based Super League players making themselves available by use of the grandparent rule. The Irish team improved its standards but this development gave less opportunity for Irish-based players to get a chance to play. However, Irish-based players were included in the Irish squad for the triangular tournaments in 1998 against France and Scotland and 1999 against Scotland and Wales. Their success was enough to earn a place in the 2000 World Cup. Finishing top of their group, the Irish eventually lost 26–16 to England in the quarter-finals, but the performance set the scene for future developments in Ireland.[11]

Ireland were drawn against Lebanon and Russia in Europe's 2008 Rugby League World Cup Qualifying Pool Two. Ireland topped the group with a 16–16 draw with Lebanon at Dewsbury on 2 November 2007. The draw meant Ireland qualified for the 2008 World Cup on points difference from Lebanon as both nations gained the same number of group points.

Ireland at the 2008 World Cup.

At the 2008 World Cup in Australia, Ireland were in Group C along with Tonga and Samoa. They lost to Tonga on 27 October in Parramatta, Sydney, but were victorious against Samoa, again in Parramatta, on 5 November and topped the group on points difference.[12][13] As the group winners, they played Fiji, winners of Group B, for a chance to qualify for the semi-final.[14] Fiji won 30–14 eliminating Ireland.[14]

England v Ireland 2013 RLWC

For the 2013 World Cup Ireland were drawn in group A alongside Australia, England and 2008 World Cup rivals Fiji. Ireland was granted automatic entry to the tournament due to their strong showing in the 2008 World Cup. Ireland lost all three group matches including a 0–50 defeat to eventual champions Australia in front of 5,021 fans at Thomond Park.[15]

Ireland kicked off their campaign with a shock 36–12 win over Italy in Cairns. In the next pool match Ireland lost a narrow match to PNG 14–6 with PNG needing a 78th minute try to win the game. Ireland's final pool match was against Wales in Perth where they ran out comfortable winners 34–6. Ireland did not progress to the next round of the tournament despite winning more games than Lebanon or Samoa who qualified for the last 8.[16][17][18]

Ireland started 2021 Rugby League World Cup qualification campaign in the 2018 European Championship, where they finished third with a win against Scotland and two losses against France and Wales. Ireland's third place finish required them to participate in the 2019 European play-off tournament to ensure qualification. Here they managed to achieve two wins against Italy and Spain, leading to their World Cup qualification. Ireland were drawn into Group C, alongside New Zealand, Lebanon and Jamaica.[19] In April 2022 Offaly-born Ged Corcoran took over from Stuart Littler for the World Cup campaign.[20] Ireland finished the tournament with a 1–2 record beating Jamaica in their opener, before losing to Lebanon and New Zealand.[21]

Ireland's competitive record as of 29 October 2022 [23]

Against	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Win %	For	Aga	Diff
Australia	1	0	0	1	0%	0	50	–50
Belgium	1	1	0	0	100%	34	0	+34
Cook Islands	1	0	0	1	0%	6	22	–16
England	3	0	0	3	0%	28	104	–76
England Knights	2	0	0	2	0%	8	118	–110
Fiji	2	0	0	2	0%	28	62	–34
France	9	1	1	7	11.11%	172	295	–123
Hungary	1	1	0	0	100%	70	0	+70
Italy	3	3	0	0	100%	121	42	+79
Jamaica	2	1	0	1	50%	64	70	–6
Lebanon	4	0	2	2	0%	64	106	–42
Malta	2	2	0	0	100%	92	32	+60
Moldova	1	1	0	0	100%	48	26	+22
Morocco	1	1	0	0	100%	42	6	+36
New Zealand	1	0	0	1	0%	10	48	–38
Māori	1	1	0	0	100%	30	16	+14
Papua New Guinea	1	0	0	1	0%	6	14	–8
Russia	4	3	0	1	75%	184	110	+74
Samoa	2	2	0	0	100%	64	32	+32
Scotland	14	10	0	4	71.43%	299	255	+44
Serbia	2	2	0	0	100%	106	16	+90
Spain	2	2	0	0	100%	88	14	+74
Tonga	1	0	0	1	0%	20	22	–2
United States	3	3	0	0	100%	112	50	+62
Wales	10	4	0	6	40%	199	253	–54
Total	74	38	3	33	51.35%	1895	1763	+132

World Cup Record										World Cup qualification record
Year	Round	Position	P	W	D	L	F	A		Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA
1954	did not enter									did not enter
1957
1960
1968
1970
1972
1975
1977
1985–88
1989–92
1995
2000	Quarter-finals	Fifth place	4	3	0	1	94	64		Qualified as co-hosts
2008	Semi-final qualifier	Fifth place	3	1	0	2	68	68		4	2	2	0	142	64
2013	Group stage	14th	3	0	0	3	14	124		Automatic qualifier
2017	Group stage	9th	3	2	0	1	76	32		2	2	0	0	116	22
2021	Group stage	9th	3	1	0	2	72	82		2	2	0	0	67	12
2025	Yet to qualify
Total	5/16	Fifth place	16	7	0	9	324	370		8	6	2	0	325	98

A red box around the year indicates tournaments played within Ireland.

This one-off tournament was contested by Ireland, Scotland and Wales.[24][25]