For most of its history, England has been represented by the Great Britain national rugby league team in tours and world cups.

England, in its early years, would also play regular friendlies against Wales to ensure the strength of the Great Britain side.

On 5 April 1904 England competed against a team called "Other Nationalities", who were made up of ten Welshman and two Scotsman, including George Frater, who captained the side.

A total of 6,000 spectators turned up for the match, which was considered a poor showing despite a Broughton Rangers v Bradford cup clash being scheduled on the same day.

At the end of October, after the domestic season had finished, England beat the Welsh 22–16 in Warrington and then crossed the English Channel to thrash a French side 48–2 in Bordeaux.

[5] Following the 2007 All Golds Tour, Great Britain splits into separate home nations teams meaning England would represent itself in all international rugby league competitions.

In his second game, England were missing St Helens and Leeds Rhinos players but the team still created history with a record 74–0 win over Wales in Doncaster.

England were humiliated in their second game against the hosts, suffering their biggest defeat to date, beating their 43-point margin against New Zealand eight years ago.

Smith said 'In some cultures poking your tongue out at others could be seen as insulting and the Kiwis pushed things too far by crossing into England's side of halfway.

After thrashing them earlier in the year, England faced a shock half-time deficit in their opening game against a French side coached by former Great Britain international Bobbie Goulding.

They then went on to thrash Ireland to nil in front of a record crowd in Huddersfield, in a game which saw Ryan Hall become the new England top try-scorer after a hat-trick took him to tally 17 total tries for his country.

They took on European rivals, France, in Wigan and, after trailing 0–6 early, England went on to advance to the semi-finals to meet defending World Champions, New Zealand, at Wembley.

The game was a see-saw affair, which saw England leading 18–14 with one minute on the clock remaining, until New Zealand play-maker Shaun Johnson produced a historical moment, to level the scores, and then convert his try after the siren, to win the match, and make the Kiwis advance to a third consecutive World Cup final.

On the slow-motion replays, it showed that Ryan Hall's right hand's little finger had put some downward pressure on the ball, however, in normal speed, it was deemed 'inconclusive' by Australian officiating rules.

[19] During that series vice-captain, James Graham, reached the milestone of becoming England's most capped player, surpassing Kevin Sinfield's record of 27 test appearances.

Bennett's first request as coach was for England to have a pre-season training camp, a mid-season international in 2017, as well as shortening the 2017 Super League season in order to prepare for the 2017 World Cup.

Despite trailing, and being held scoreless in the first 26 minutes, England did go on to avoid an upset, convincingly beating the French and giving Bennett a successful return to the International scene, 8 years after he left the New Zealand assistant coach role.

At the end of 2016, Bennett announced that the England pre-season 'heat training camp' in Dubai would be cancelled after taking in the consideration of domestic coaches' concerns.

[23][24] Instead of a pre-season training camp, Bennett and the English coaching staff chose an Elite Performance Squad of players, based in England, who would be scouted regularly throughout the 2017 season.

At the age of 35, it was suggested younger players such as Liam Farrell, Alex Walmsley, Mark Percival, and Scott Taylor, should have been selected instead.

[26][27] Bennett only named one NRL player, Chris Heighnington, in his England team for the World Cup, while Zak Hardaker missed out due to a drugs ban.

Despite the defeat, England continued their way through the tournament with convincing victories over Lebanon, France, finishing second in Group A.

They then went on to beat Papua New Guinea convincingly in the quarter finals before reaching the semi-finals where they would take on Tonga who had knocked New Zealand out the week before.

With less than one minute left on the clock, Andrew Fifita lost control of the ball before regathering it and putting it over the try-line, only to realise the referee had already blown his whistle.

[31] On 3 February 2020, it was announced that Shaun Wane would replace Bennett as Head Coach on a two-year contract with the intention of leading England in the 2020 Ashes series and the 2021 World Cup.

[32] England started the 2021 Rugby League World Cup with a 60-6 victory over Samoa and finished top of their group after winning all three pool matches.

Ahead of the 2021 World Cup a radical New England kit was released which was white with navy blue shoulders and cross.

From the 1995 Rugby League World cup, it was used a crest with the St. George's cross, the Three Lions Coat of Arms of England and Tudor rose.

England lost out on reaching the final in 2013, when New Zealand beat them 20-18 in the semi-final, after Shaun Johnson scored a conversion in the last 30 seconds of the game to secure the win.

European Championship In 2011 the England Knights were created to serve as a step up for the younger players from their club in view of playing for the 1st team.