With less than 100 days to go until England Women face the Australian Jillaroos in Las Vegas preparation for the journey to the Allegiant Stadium has stepped up with Head Coach, Stuart Barrow, travelling to Nevada ahead of the historic clash.
Having only faced one another on three occasions previously, March 1 will see the two nations meet for the first time since the 2017 World Cup where the Jillaroos secured a resounding 38-0 victory.
Since that day seven years ago England have made significant strides forward and the neutral-ground showdown promises to be a thrilling test of their development and ability to challenge the World Champions.
The match will be staged at the 65,000-capacity Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders and venue for the 2024 NFL Superbowl – where more than 40,000 attended the NRL’s first Vegas promotion last year.
“Arriving in Las Vegas has really emphasized the amazing opportunity that lies ahead of us” explained Barrow. “The training facilities have been second to none and I’m looking forward to stepping out at the Allegiant Stadium to get a taste of what March 1 will feel like and relaying that to the team when I get back.”
England’s final outing before heading to the desert was a dominant 82-0 victory against Wales at AMT Headingley on November 2 but will face an all together different challenge in just over three months’ time against Australia.
“The Jillaroos are a fantastic side; we know how good they are and how difficult it will be when we face them, but we have to take this opportunity with both hands to test ourselves against the World Champions.
"We've got a plan of how we want to play and there was evidence of that when we faced Wales. Since then, we’ve gone away and analysed that game and we’re now able to pick a wider 31-player squad ahead of our first training session on December 7.
“We’ll have a further six sessions between then and mid-February before we select a squad of 20 to travel to Vegas and everyone in the training squad will have a chance of fighting for a place on the plane.”
“I’m very much looking forward to getting back to the UK and linking up with the team again ahead of a busy couple of months.”
England Women versus the Australian Jillaroos will be the penultimate match of a quadruple header featuring a Super League clash between Wigan Warriors and Warrington Wolves and two NRL matches - Raiders v Warriors and Panthers v Sharks.
All four matches will be shown live on Sky Sports – with England v Australia kicking off at 2am UK time.
Rugby League Las Vegas Festival 2025 – Saturday March 1
- Betfred Super League – Wigan Warriors v Warrington Wolves (1:30pm PST / 9:30pm GMT)
- NRL – Canberra Raiders v New Zealand Warriors (4:00pm PST / Midnight GMT)
- Test Match - Australian Jillaroos vs England Women (6:00pm PST / 2am GMT March 2)
- NRL – Penrith Panthers vs Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks (8:30pm PST / 4:30am GMT March 2)
