Where to Watch the Rugby League World Cup 2026 in Ubud, Bali

The biggest international rugby league tournament in a decade lands in October — here's how to catch every match at Ubud's original saloon.

After years of delays, cancellations, and a host-nation swap, the Rugby League World Cup is finally back — and it's shaping up to be the biggest edition the sport has ever staged. From October 15 to November 15, 2026, fourteen nations and twenty-six teams will battle across the Men's, Women's, and Wheelchair tournaments in what organisers are calling the most competitive and ambitious Rugby League World Cup since the competition began in 1954. For rugby league fans in Bali, that means five straight weeks of Kangaroos, Kiwis, and Pacific nations rugby to plan around — and there's nowhere better to watch it unfold than The Melting Pot Saloon, Ubud's original Texas-style saloon and the town's home of live sport.

If you've followed our coverage of the NRL season or State of Origin, you already know we take our rugby league seriously here. The World Cup is a different animal entirely: it's the one tournament where club rivalries get set aside and national pride takes over, where PNG's passionate fanbase gets to cheer on home soil for the first time in tournament history, and where every match carries the weight of representing your country on the biggest stage in the sport. This guide breaks down everything you need to know about RLWC 2026 — the format, the key dates, and how to make sure you don't miss a match while you're in Ubud.

2026 Rugby League World Cup: Format, Teams & Groups Explained

RLWC2026 is actually three tournaments running side by side: a ten-team Men's competition, an eight-team Women's competition, and an eight-team Wheelchair competition, together comprising twenty-six teams from fourteen nations playing fifty-three matches over thirty-one days. It's a scaled-down format compared to the sixteen-team men's tournaments of the past, a change designed to keep every match competitive and raise the stakes across the board. The tournament was originally slated for 2025 in France, but after the French organisers withdrew over financial concerns, hosting rights were handed to Australia in mid-2024 — with select matches also being staged in Papua New Guinea and New Zealand, marking the first time PNG has ever hosted World Cup rugby league on home soil.

The Men's tournament features Australia, New Zealand, England, Samoa, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and Lebanon as automatic qualifiers by virtue of reaching the quarter-finals of the last World Cup, joined by France and the Cook Islands, who booked their spots through a qualifying tournament in late 2025. The ten teams are split into three groups: Group A (Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and Cook Islands) plays a straightforward round-robin, while Group B (England, Samoa, and Lebanon) and Group C (Tonga, Papua New Guinea, and France) cross over to play each other, with the top two from Group A and the top two from the combined Group B/C table advancing to the semi-finals. It's a format built to guarantee blockbuster knockout football, and with Australia and New Zealand — the two top-ranked teams in the world — drawn into the same group, the tournament wastes no time getting to the good stuff.

Rugby League World Cup 2026 Schedule: Key Dates & Fixtures

The tournament kicks off on Thursday, October 15 at Sydney's Allianz Stadium with a heavyweight opener between the Kangaroos and the Kiwis — Australia enters as reigning Ashes champions, New Zealand as 2025 Pacific Cup winners, so this is about as strong a curtain-raiser as international rugby league can produce. The Women's tournament follows a day later, on Friday, October 16, with Australia's Jillaroos taking on Samoa at CommBank Stadium. Opening weekend also brings a Group B/C clash between England and Tonga at Perth's HBF Park on Saturday, October 17, a fixture worth circling for Bali-based fans since Perth runs on the same time zone as Ubud.

From there, the group stage rolls on for two and a half weeks across nine host cities — Sydney, Perth, Newcastle, Brisbane, Wollongong, Gold Coast, Townsville, Christchurch, and Port Moresby — before wrapping up with a standalone Pacific derby between Tonga and Samoa at CommBank Stadium on Sunday, November 1. The knockout rounds follow through early November, building to a huge closing weekend: the Wheelchair Final at Wollongong's WIN Entertainment Centre on Friday, November 13, and the Men's and Women's Finals both at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium on Sunday, November 15.

Date	Fixtures	Venue
Thursday, October 15	Australia VS New Zealand (Men's Opener)	Allianz Stadium, Sydney
Friday, October 16	Australia VS Samoa (Women's Opener)	CommBank Stadium, Sydney
Saturday, October 17	England VS Tonga	HBF Park, Perth
Sunday, November 1	Tonga VS Samoa (Group Stage Closer)	CommBank Stadium, Sydney
Friday, November 13	Wheelchair Final	WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong
Sunday, November 15	Men's & Women's Final	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane

Rugby League World Cup 2026 Kick-Off Times in Bali

Because RLWC2026 is spread across three countries and several Australian time zones, kick-off times in Bali will shift depending on where each match is played. Matches in Perth line up almost exactly with Ubud time, since Western Australia doesn't observe daylight saving. Sydney, Brisbane, and the other east coast venues will typically run two to three hours ahead of us, and matches in Christchurch, New Zealand will be further ahead again. Exact broadcast times for Bali will depend on how the tournament is packaged by international broadcasters, so we'll confirm precise local kick-off times closer to October. In the meantime, if there's a specific match or nation you're desperate to watch, message us on WhatsApp ahead of time and we'll do our best to have it up on screen.

Where to Watch Rugby League World Cup 2026 in Ubud: The Melting Pot Saloon

The Melting Pot Saloon is Ubud's only Texas-style saloon, and the Rugby League World Cup in Ubud has been part of us since we opened. We show live sport every single day across multiple screens, including an 80-inch TV and a full projector setup, with the sound always on — no muted broadcasts with subtitles here. For a tournament like RLWC2026, where matches will be coming from all over the Pacific at odd hours, that kind of dedicated setup matters. If a Cook Islands or Fiji fixture is the one you care about, chances are you won't find it screened anywhere else in town.

Between matches, there's plenty to keep a crowd entertained. We've got eleven games under one roof — ten pool tables plus a snooker table, a full-size shuffleboard court, darts, ping pong, foosball, air hockey, a basketball machine, Golden Tee, an arcade cabinet, and axe throwing for anyone who wants to settle a footy argument the old-fashioned way. Pair that with 23 beers on tap, 19 of them craft — the largest craft beer selection in Ubud — and a Texas-style food menu built for match day, from the Ultimate Cheeseburger to ribs, quesadillas, and a proper bowl of Texas chili, and you've got everything you need to settle in for a long tournament.

We're open daily from 10:30am to 2am, which covers early-morning kick-offs as comfortably as late-night finals. And if rugby league isn't the only thing on your mind, don't forget Monday Quiz Night at 8pm — free entry, teams of up to six, and a good excuse to come back between fixtures.

How to Plan Your Rugby League World Cup Match Day in Ubud

With fifty-three matches across five weeks, there's a lot of tournament to plan around. Our advice: pick your must- watch fixtures now — Australia vs New Zealand, the Pacific derbies, PNG's home matches — and get in touch ahead of time if you want us to prioritise a specific screen for a specific game. We're used to juggling requests during major tournaments, and we'd rather know in advance than scramble on the day. Whether you're backing the Kangaroos, flying the flag for Tonga or Samoa, or just want somewhere with cold beer, good food, and the game on loud, The Melting Pot Saloon will have you covered from the opening kick-off in Sydney right through to the Suncorp Stadium final.