It will be mate versus mate tomorrow (Friday) when England begin their Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup title defence.

The holders open their campaign against Wales in Wollongong and for Nathan Collins and Tristan Norfolk that means a showdown with their Rhinos club captain Jodie Boyd-Ward. She is in her fourth World Cup having previously represented Ireland (2013), England (2017, alongside Collins) and Wales (2022).

“It will be my first time playing against Jodie,” Collins said. “On the pitch she is just another player - I am representing my country and she is representing hers.

“As a mate, good luck to her, but at the end of the day I have got a job to do to represent the badge on my chest and put 100 per cent out there, get the win and move on to the next stage. Afterwards we can speak to each other as mates.”

Nathan Collins, of Leeds Rhinos, with the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup following victory over France in the final four years ago. Picture by Will Palmer/SWpix.com.

placeholder image — Nathan Collins, of Leeds Rhinos, with the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup following victory over France in the final four years ago. Picture by Will Palmer/SWpix.com.

Their win four years ago makes England the tournament’s star attraction and Collins vowed: “We’re looking forward to the opportunity we’ve got in front of us. We’re not necessarily [focusing on] going out there to retain the trophy; it is a new competition and we’re looking forward to putting our front foot forward and showing what we can do.”

Ex-Leeds Rhinos star Mikolaj Oledzki's 'love to come back' pledge ahead of move ...

Collins is hoping for a third World Cup final appearance having kicked three goals when England beat France 28-24 in Manchester and also featured in a 38-34 loss to the same opponents in 2017. He knows the holders have a target on their back, but stated: “I think a lot of people think there’s a lot of pressure on us, but for me as a player, I don’t think there is.

“We just have to go out there and do what we need to do - do our job and hopefully that will bring the trophy with us on the plane home. We are well prepared to be able to do that.”

Leeds Rhinos' Nathan Collins in action against England teammate Rob Hawkins during last month's Wheelchair Super League Grand Final. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.

England have been in Wollongong, the New South Wales city where all wheelchair matches are being staged, since last weekend and are “gelling well”, according to Collins, despite not having a warm-up game. He said: “We’ve had a lot of good training sessions leading up to this, it is the most training sessions we’ve had over the last two or three years.

“It has gone really well and the stuff we’ve done in practice has been starting to work really well while we’ve been over here. We’ve only had one main training session so far and a lot of team bonding stuff. We had our main training session [on Wednesday], it went really well and we are looking in the right direction.”

England’s group campaign continues against the USA on Tuesday and concludes when they play Ireland three days later. The semi-finals are scheduled for Tuesday, November 10, with the final on Friday of that week.

The other pool features Australia, New Zealand, Scotland – incuding Leeds coach James Simpson – and France, who have a new coach, a much-changed squad from four years ago and will again be among England’s main rivals. Collins, however, feels the hosts could be dark horses.

Leeds Rhinos' Jodie Boyd-Ward seen on Wales duty during a World Cup game against France four years ago. Wales face England on Friday. Picture by John Clifton/SWpix.com.

“We played Australia last year and that was a great opportunity to get us ready for this,” he said. “They haven’t just gone up one level, they have got loads better.

“I would love to see them pushing for the finals and maybe an England-Australia final. That would be great, but we’ve just got to play who's in front of us. One job at a time.”