With 500 days to go until the opening fixture of the Rugby League World Cup 2021 (RLWC2021), tournament organisers have announced that Newcastle will act as the training base for Scotland’s men’s team.

Newcastle, known for its passionate fanbase, is the perfect place to host the tournament opening ceremony and England men’s opening fixture at St James’ Park, as well as three group fixtures at Kingston Park. Now the sport loving Geordies will be welcoming the men’s team from just north of the border as Scotland men’s team look ahead to the tournament in 2021.

Magies coach and Scotland U16s Head Coach, Steven Beaty was delighted with the news: “This will be great for the city and I’m sure the Scottish players will be welcomed with open arms.

The Scottish team has players that play across Super League and the NRL and includes Newcastle Thunder star, Sam Luckley so to have them based in the community will be an exciting experience for those they meet.”

Beaty continued: “We are all experiencing the restrictions of the coronavirus crisis now but as we recover, I think 2021 will be a very exciting year for rugby league across the region as we build up to that opening game in October.”

The squads from the 21 unique nations and 32 teams will be based in different locations. The North East is also hosting one other team during the tournament, with the Cook Islands based in Middlesbrough meaning that former Rockets 1st team Head Coach and former Newcastle Thunder fan favourite, Vincent Rennie may be making to the region.

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The full list of host towns and cities, and the corresponding nations is as follows:

Bolton – France (Men’s)
Doncaster – Samoa (Men’s)
Hull – Fiji (Men’s)
Leeds – Jamaica, Ireland (Men’s) | England, Papua New Guinea, Brazil, Canada (Women’s)
Liverpool and St Helens – Tonga, Italy (Men’s teams)
London – England, Australia, Norway, Spain (Wheelchair)
Manchester – England, Australia (Men’s)
Newcastle – Scotland (Men’s)
Preston – Wales (Men’s)
Sheffield – Greece (Men’s) | France, Wales, Scotland, USA (Wheelchair)
Tees Valley – Cook Islands (Men’s)
Warrington – Papua New Guinea (Men’s)
Wigan/Leigh – Lebanon (Men’s)
York – New Zealand (Men’s) | Australia, New Zealand, France, Cook Islands (Women’s)