At the end of this year, sixteen nations will contest the Rugby League World Cup. Most casual fans would know about Australia, New Zealand and England; but over the coming weeks, we’ll introduce you to some of the other teams.

Ireland, known as the Wolfhounds, have played rugby league since 1989, but had to wait until 1995 for their first international matches. That year they played in the Emerging Nations Tournament, which was played in tandem with the World Cup. Ireland recorded wins over Moldova and Morocco.

By 2000 several English based Super League players became eligible for Ireland, and the Wolfhounds made it to the quarter-finals of that year’s World Cup, going down 26-16 to England.

Ireland again qualified for the World Cup in 2008, but again fell short during the quarter-finals with a 30-14 loss to Fiji. The following year, Ireland had their biggest ever test victory when they defeated Serbia by 82-0.

In 2013, Ireland again participated in the World Cup, but lost all three matches against Fiji, England and Australia. They won two of their three games at the 2017 World Cup, but did not progress to the finals after finishing second in their group.

Ireland defeated Spain and Italy to qualify for the 2022 World Cup. They have drawn New Zealand, Jamaica and Lebanon their pool, and would fancy their chances of qualifying for the finals.