2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s

The standard rules of rugby league applied but with the following variations:^[1]

• games are nine-a-side with unlimited interchanges in the 13-strong squad
• each half is nine minutes with a 2-minute half time
• the tackle count for the team in possession is five rather than six
• any player sin-binned is off the field for only three minutes
• the 40/20 rule is supplemented by a 20/40 rule i.e. a kick from behind the player's own 20m line which after bouncing goes into touch past the opponent's 40m line will result in the kicking team retaining possession with a tap-restart
• Bonus zone tries - tries score four points as normal but the value of the try will be increased to five for a try scored in the area between the goalposts
• all conversions are drop kicks rather than place kicks and a 25-second shot clock will apply
• a game which goes to extra time will be decided by golden try extra time

The competing teams were hand picked, and the selections were announced on 22 April 2019.^[2]

On 27 September 2019, the Tonga National Rugby League were suspended by the International Rugby League (IRL), pending an investigation into their board. Tonga were represented at the tournament by a "Tonga Invitatonal" team.^[3][4]

Men's

More information Team, Captain ...

Team	Captain	Coach	IRL rank
Australia	Daly Cherry-Evans & Wade Graham	Mal Meninga	1
Cook Islands	Alex Glenn	Tony Iro	28
England	James Graham	Wayne Bennett	2
Fiji	Kevin Naiqama	Brandon Costin	5
France	Jason Baitieri	Aurélien Cologni	6
Lebanon	Reece Robinson	Rick Stone	9
New Zealand	Shaun Johnson	Michael Maguire	3
Papua New Guinea	Rhyse Martin	Michael Marum	10
Samoa	Joseph Leilua	Matt Parish	7
Tonga Invitational	Jason Taumalolo	David Tangata-Toa	4
United States	Mark Offerdahl	Sean Rutgerson	15
Wales	Elliot Kear	John Kear	11

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Women's

More information Team, Captain ...

Team	Captain	Coach	IRL rank
Australia	Ali Brigginshaw	Brad Donald	1
England	Emily Rudge	Craig Richards	3
New Zealand	Honey Hireme	Justin Morgan	2
Papua New Guinea	Janet Johns	Bagelo Solien	6

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The NRL named the following 18 NRL match officials to handle the 28 matches.

On 19 October 2019, Lebanon's Jacob Kiraz and Jordan Samrani and Papua New Guinea women's players Sera Koroi and Joyce Waula were all suspended from the tournament for being under the age of 18.

While the International Rugby League allows players 16 or older to play in Test matches, the National Rugby League (who ran the tournament) rules require that players must be 18 or older.

Kiraz, who would not turn 18 until November 2019, was the only one of the four to play a game, coming off the bench in Lebanon's 12–8 win over France. Lebanon were stripped of the two competition points earned for their win as a result.^[8][10]