Mason Billington is in line to make a fairytale debut for England Wheelchair in Saturday’s latest instalment of their fierce rivalry with France – only eight months after taking up the sport.
Billington, a 29-year-old from Essex who broke his back in 2016 and had been playing Wheelchair Basketball until discovering Wheelchair Rugby League when a new team was founded in Brentwood in February, is the only uncapped player included in a 10-player squad selected by England’s head coach Tom Coyd MBE.
The match will be played at the Robin Park Arena in Wigan on Saturday afternoon (230pm), with tickets still available from £11 – and live coverage on BBC Sport.
It will be the third time England have faced France since their famous win in the World Cup Final in Manchester two years ago, with the honours even from two games in 2023 as France stunned a home crowd at the First Direct Arena in Leeds but England hit back at the Palais des Sports in Marseille.
Coyd has named seven of his World Cup winners, with the squad completed by Billington, Josh Butler and Jack Heggie.
Butler, who won the Wheels of Steel as the outstanding player of the Betfred Wheelchair Super League season, is one of three members of the Leeds Rhinos team who clinched the Grand Final last weekend, alongside Nathan Collins and Tom Halliwell OBE, England’s World Cup winning captain.
Heggie is one of two Wigan Warriors players in the squad hoping to represent their country in front of a home crowd, alongside Adam Rigby.
England Wheelchair squad to play France at Robin Park Arena (Saturday 26 October):
- Tom Halliwell (Leeds Rhinos, captain)
- Seb Bechara (Catalans Dragons)
- Mason Billington (London Roosters)
- Josh Butler (Leeds Rhinos)
- Nathan Collins (Leeds Rhinos)
- Joe Coyd (London Roosters)
- Rob Hawkins (Halifax Panthers)
- Jack Heggie (Wigan Warriors)
- Lewis King (London Roosters)
- Adam Rigby (Wigan Warriors)
