in straight sets. the women s hockey world cup begins next week and england continued the countdown to it by beating belgium 2 1 in a pro league match in london with goals from tess howard and grace balsdon. they play their final league game against the same opponents today and could end the season as high as fourth. it s just five months to go until the rugby league world cup gets under way, and england s teams have been continuing their preparations this weekend. the wheelchair side are in action later today, while the men s and women s teams were involved in a double header in warrington yesterday. the men beat the combined nations all stars 18 4 with jake wardle scoring on his england debut. and there was also a win for the women s side. they beat france 36 10 with amy hardcastle and georgia roche both scoring two tries each. it was their last match before they start their world cup campaign against brazil at headingly in october. in racing, james doyle on board naval crown claimed
they scored seven tries in total, amy hardcastle scoring one in each half. georgia roach also scored twice. the final score was 36 10 to england. in half an hour england s men s will face a combined all stars team made up of some of the super league s best international players. this is one of two matches shaun wane has to prepare, before the world s best teams descend on england in october. wane has named four debutants in his 17 man squad including st helens forwards joe batchelor and matty lees, back jack welsby and huddersfield s giants jake wardle also picked for the mid season international. some big women s football news, it s been announced that lucy bronze willjoin barcelona. the england defender left manchester city last month, after five seasons where she won the wsl title, two fa cups and two league cups. barcelona are looking to strengthen after they were beaten