How to watch Women’s Rugby League World Cup anywhere

The Women’s Rugby League World Cup only began in 2000, but it has gone from strength to strength over five hugely successful tournaments and attracted legions of new fans to this rapidly growing women’s sport.

This autumn will see the sixth edition of the tournament taking place alongside the men’s and wheelchair editions. It promises to be the most successful yet, and the linkage with the more established men’s game can only help the sport progress to the next level.

Unfortunately, the Women’s Rugby League World Cup will not be broadcast on TV everywhere, so the question for those fans who can’t make it along to the games themselves or will travelling at the time, how can you watch?

We have everything you need to know in this guide, so sit back, relax, have a quick read, and enjoy everything the Women’s Rugby League World Cup has to offer.

When and where is the Women’s Rugby League World Cup taking place?

The Women’s Rugby League World Cup will take place alongside the men’s and wheelchair editions of the tournament between the 1st and 19th November.

It will be hosted in England, with matches taking place at five different venues:

• Old Trafford, Manchester
• Anfield, Liverpool
• MKM Stadium, Hull
• Headingley Stadium, Leeds
• York Community Stadium, York

The eight national teams who will be competing in the Women’s Rugby League World Cup will be based at two centres in York and Leeds.

What you need to watch

The Women’s Rugby League World Cup will be shown live and on-demand on the BBC in the UK.

Fans can watch on various channels across the BBC network, but given that the tournament runs alongside the men’s version, it is likely that the best place to catch most games (especially those not featuring England) will be on the BBC iPlayer streaming service.

However, if you’re currently out of the UK, travelling, for work, etc, this is a problem because the BBC iPlayer is not available to viewers outside the UK.

That means that if you want to watch every game live or on-demand, you will need the help of an app called a VPN.

If you aren’t already familiar with a VPN, it is an online security and privacy tool that works by redirecting your internet data via an external server.

A quirk of how this works means that if you choose a server that is located in the UK, the BBC iPlayer will think you are located in the UK even when you aren’t.

You can therefore tune into the iPlayer to watch the Women’s Rugby League World Cup from anywhere in the world with the help of a VPN.

Where to get a VPN to view?

If you run a quick Google search for a VPN, you will swiftly learn that there are hundreds to choose from.

But not all will be able to help you unblock and watch the Women’s Rugby League World Cup where you are. To do that, you will need a VPN that ticks a number of very specific boxes.

ExpressVPN is the one to go for and the one I use.

It has lots of UK-based servers, super-fast speeds and, vitally, it works with the BBC iPlayer, which not all VPNs do. You also get terrific apps for all your favourite devices and a 30-day money-back guarantee as well, which gives you lots of time to try.

NordVPN and Surfshark VPN are two other VPN providers that can do the job. But even though they both offer similar features and both have a 30-day money-back guarantee too, ExpressVPN remains the pick of the bunch.

However, the final choice is entirely yours.

30-day money back guarantee

How to watch the Women’s Rugby League World Cup online

After choosing a VPN provider, you will need to set everything up to enjoy the Women’s Rugby League World Cup.

Sounds daunting? Well, don’t worry because we’ve got you covered here too.

Below is a simple step-by-step guide you can follow, which should only take you a few minutes to get through:

Step 1

Head to the ExpressVPN website and choose your favourite package. We suggest their 12-month deal, with 3 extra months free and a 49% discount, which offers the best value for money.

Step 2

Next, download and install the ExpressVPN app. You should always do this from their website or your official app store for security reasons.

Step 3

Now open the app and sign in to your ExpressVPN account using the details given to you in step one.

Step 4

To connect, click Selected Location and then choose the United Kingdom and press the Connect button.

Now all you have to do is wait a few seconds for ExpressVPN to establish a connection.

Stream the show anywhere with ExpressVPN.

Step 5

Lastly, head over to the BBC iPlayer website or app as you prefer, and you can watch every game of the Women’s Rugby League World Cup live or on-demand from wherever you are in the world at the time.

30-day money back guarantee

Who to look out for?

There will be a total of eight teams competing at the Women’s Rugby League World Cup.

They have been placed into two groups, with Group A consisting of England, Papua New Guinea, Canada, and Brazil and Group B comprising Australia, New Zealand, France, and the Cook Islands.

The top two teams from each group will then advance to the semi-finals.

There is no doubt that it will be the antipodean teams that are the hot favourites to lift the Women’s Rugby League World Cup trophy.

New Zealand currently has three Women’s Rugby League World Cup titles to their name. But their last victor came back in 2008, and since then, it has been their near neighbours that have emerged victorious both in England in 2013 and on home soil in 2017.

They beat New Zealand in both of those finals, so even though they are in the same group, it would be a brave woman to bet against a New Zealand – Australia final once more.

In the last edition of this tournament, Australia won at a canter with “every win a thrashing until the closely-contested final against the Kiwis”, as one critic put it. New Zealand will want to push them closer this time around.

But the host nation England has been in the ascendency in recent years too. They have finished third at the last three tournaments and will be hoping that the fervent home crowds can push them one step further this time around.

In Summary

The Women’s Rugby League World Cup looks all set to be a classic, and there is no doubt that rugby league fans will want to follow the action as closely as they can.

That’s why the BBC is showing all the action, but unfortunately, they are not making it available to overseas viewers.

That is where a VPN comes in. With the help of a VPN, anyone can who’s abroad at the time can watch all the games live or on-demand on the BBC iPlayer no matter where in the world they happen to be.

Just sign up for ExpressVPN and follow our step-by-step guide to help you download their app, connect to a UK-based server, and then watch all the games on the BBC iPlayer from anywhere.

Sports fans rejoice. This is going to be a hell of an autumn of rugby league.