The 2017 Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup was the third staging of the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup. The tournament was held from 20 July to 28 July 2017 and was originally planned to be held in Sydney, Australia, as part of the 2017 Festival of World Cups but was relocated to France. The tournament was won by France who defeated England 38âÂÂ34 in the final in Perpignan to retain the title.
On 19 February 2014, it was announced that the joint bid from Australia and New Zealand had won hosting rights for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup to be held in November 2017. As with previous tournaments the Festival of World Cups served as part of the build-up to the main competition and was expected to include the wheelchair competition. In May 2016, the World Cup organising committee raised concerns over financial support for the festival, but by September the England team still anticipated that the wheelchair event would take place in Sydney, Australia. All the teams were European apart from the hosts and holding the tournament in Australia came to be considered financially unviable. In November 2016, the RLIF announced that the wheelchair tournament would be held in France in order to maximise the number of teams taking part. The cost of travel was an issue for participating nations and in the Welsh Parliament it was noted that Wales were dependent on sponsorship and donations in order to take part. In March 2017, the Australian team received from the NRL towards their transport costs.
In April 2017, the French Rugby League Federation announced that the tournament would take place between 20 July and 28 July with the final being played at the Parc des Expositions in Perpignan.
The venues for the tournament were all in the Occitania region in southern France:
The seven teams that took part in the tournament were the four semi-finalists from 2013 (Australia, England, France and Wales) who were placed in Group A and Italy, Scotland and Spain in Group B. Ireland had also intended to take part. Each nation was allowed to name up to 12 players in their squad for the tournament.
Two pre-tournament matches took place on 18 July at the Gymnase L'Olympie, Limoux.
In the knockout stage the top two teams in Group A qualified for the semi-finals. The other semi-finalists were determined by play-offs between the remaining Group A teams and the top two teams in Group B.
The group play-offs were held on 25 July at the Gymnase du Cosec, Albi.
Both semi-finals were played on 26 July at the Gymnase Compans Cafferlli, Toulouse.
The matches to decide 3rd to 6th placed teams were played on 27 July at the Gymnase du Cosec, Saint-Orens.
The final was played on 28 July at the Parc des Expositions in Perpignan.
Final tournament rankings:
At the end of the tournament the top 10 players were selected: Gilles Clausells was named as the Best Player of the World Cup.
Confronted with limited media coverage of the tournament the French Rugby League Federation created a YouTube channel through which matches were broadcast.