Rugby League World Cup 2026 Semi-Finals and Final: Kick-Off Times in UK, US and Australia

The Rugby League World Cup 2026 group stage ends on Sunday, Nov. 1, with Tonga v Samoa at CommBank Stadium, Sydney, kicking off at 9:05am Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), according to Sky Sports. That is 4:05 a.m. Eastern Time (ET), 1:05 a.m. Pacific Time (PT) and 8:05pm Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT) in Sydney. The semi-finals follow on Nov. 7 and 8, and the men’s and women’s finals on Sunday, Nov. 15, at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, per the International Rugby League (IRL).

The match was played today and no result was published on the IRL site or the Sky Sports page when we checked, so the semi-final line-ups are confirmed after it. Times below are converted from Sky Sports’ GMT listings. The UK is on GMT and US clocks fell back on Nov. 1, so Eastern Time is 5 hours behind GMT and Pacific Time is 8 hours behind. Sydney is on AEDT, 11 hours ahead of GMT. Brisbane is on Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST), 10 hours ahead, because Queensland has no daylight saving time.

What are the Rugby League World Cup 2026 semi-final and final kick-off times?

Date	Match	Venue	UK (GMT)	ET	PT	Australia
Sat., Nov. 7	Men’s semi-final 1: New Zealand v to be decided	McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle	9:05am	4:05 a.m.	1:05 a.m.	8:05pm AEDT
Sun., Nov. 8	Men’s semi-final 2: Australia v to be decided	Allianz Stadium, Sydney	9:05am	4:05 a.m.	1:05 a.m.	8:05pm AEDT
Sun., Nov. 15	Men’s final	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane	8:35am	3:35 a.m.	12:35 a.m.	6:35pm AEST

The men’s kick-off times come from Sky Sports’ schedule page of Oct. 31, 2026. Newcastle Herald and the New South Wales state tourism site also list the first semi-final in Newcastle on Nov. 7. Pencil the dates onto the November 2026 printable calendar or print the December 2026 calendar for the weeks after.

What time are the women’s and wheelchair finals?

Sky Sports lists the women’s semi-finals as New Zealand v Samoa in Newcastle and Australia v Fiji in Sydney, both at 6:45am GMT, and the women’s final at 5:10am GMT. Those are Eastern times after midnight, and the Pacific times fall on the evening before.

Date	Match	Venue	UK (GMT)	ET	PT	Australia
Sat., Nov. 7	Women’s semi-final 1: New Zealand v Samoa	McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle	6:45am	1:45 a.m.	10:45 p.m. (Fri.)	5:45pm AEDT
Sun., Nov. 8	Women’s semi-final 2: Australia v Fiji	Allianz Stadium, Sydney	6:45am	1:45 a.m.	10:45 p.m. (Sat.)	5:45pm AEDT
Sun., Nov. 15	Women’s final	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane	5:10am	12:10 a.m.	9:10 p.m. (Sat.)	3:10pm AEST

The IRL puts the wheelchair final at Wollongong’s entertainment centre on Friday, Nov. 13. Sky Sports lists the wheelchair semi-finals for Tuesday, Nov. 10 without kick-off times. We did not find a wheelchair final time in the sources we checked.

How does the Rugby League World Cup 2026 group stage decide the semi-finalists?

The IRL draw has Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Cook Islands in Group A. Group B is England, Samoa and Lebanon, and Group C is Tonga, Papua New Guinea and France. Group B and Group C teams do not play inside their own pool. The IRL says the top two from Group A go to the semi-finals, and so do the top two teams from a combined table of Groups B and C.

Sky Sports adds that the top team of the combined table faces the Group A runner-up. Its listing puts New Zealand in semi-final 1, so the combined-table winner plays New Zealand in Newcastle and the second-placed team plays Australia in Sydney. That pairing is our reading of Sky Sports’ schedule, not a separate IRL statement.

Group A is settled. The IRL reported that Australia beat Cook Islands 66-6 in Townsville and finished top of Pool A, and that New Zealand beat Fiji 78-0 on the Gold Coast.

Who can still reach the semi-finals after Tonga v Samoa?

The IRL’s preview said Samoa had all but secured a place after two wins, and that even a defeat to Tonga could be enough because of their points difference over England and Papua New Guinea. It also said Tonga knew a win on Sunday was needed. England beat Papua New Guinea 34-12 in Wollongong and, in the IRL’s words, must wait for the Samoa v Tonga game. Sky Sports wrote that England need Tonga to beat Samoa by more than 46 points to avoid an early exit.

Date	Combined Group B and C result	Score
Fri., Oct. 16	Samoa v France	78-4
Sat., Oct. 17	Papua New Guinea v Lebanon	42-18
Sat., Oct. 17	England v Tonga	12-30
Fri., Oct. 23	Tonga v Lebanon	36-0
Sat., Oct. 24	Papua New Guinea v Samoa	6-64
Sat., Oct. 24	England v France	82-0
Fri., Oct. 30	England v Papua New Guinea	34-12
Sun., Nov. 1	Lebanon v France	24-20 (golden point, IRL)
Sun., Nov. 1	Tonga v Samoa	9:05am GMT, result not yet published

Scores come from the Sky Sports schedule page, except Lebanon v France, which the IRL reported as a golden-point win for Lebanon. Dates are the GMT dates on the Sky Sports page. We do not state the final table until the Tonga v Samoa result is published.

Where can I watch the Rugby League World Cup 2026 in the UK, US and Australia?

The IRL named Premier Sports as the exclusive broadcaster for the UK and Ireland on Aug. 18, 2026. On Oct. 8, it said every game from the men’s, women’s and wheelchair tournaments is streamed live on Premier Sports Player in 129 more countries, including major markets such as the United States. Premier Sports also covers Canada. Coverage runs from Oct. 15 to Nov. 15.

A US television channel and an Australian broadcaster were not named in the sources we checked, so check your local listings. For other UK sport on US clocks, see the Nations Championship rugby fixtures, the Premier League fixtures for Nov. 6 to 8 and the Carabao Cup fourth round.

Where are the Rugby League World Cup 2026 knockout games played?

The IRL says Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium hosts the men’s and women’s finals on Sunday, Nov. 15, and Wollongong’s entertainment centre hosts the wheelchair final on Friday, Nov. 13. A New South Wales Government release said both the men’s and women’s semi-finals are in Sydney and Newcastle. The tournament opened at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium on Thursday, Oct. 15, with Australia v New Zealand.

Is there a printable Rugby League World Cup 2026 knockout schedule?

Yes. The one-page sheet lists the Tonga v Samoa game, both semi-finals for the men and women, the wheelchair dates and both finals with GMT, Eastern and Pacific times.