Wales Rugby League have finalised the management team that will guide and support the wheelchair squad during the 2026 Rugby League World Cup in Australia, which runs from October 30 to November 13.
Head Coach Alan Caron will lead the squad in Wollongong, with Gary Taylor and Dave Abel joining him as Assistant Coaches. Alana Sargent will serve as both Strength and Conditioning Coach and Team Manager, with Dawn Roberts-McCabe taking on the role of Assistant Team Manager. Angharad Sargeant travels as Physiotherapist, Stephen Jones will take on the role of Welfare Manager, while Ian Golden completes the staff as Media Manager.
Alan Caron was a founding member of the Wales Wheelchair side, the team’s first-ever coach, captain and heritage player number one. After a long period of playing where he won 42 Wales caps, he returned as Head Coach in 2023 to lead Wales to their seventh successive Celtic Cup win. His coaching career has included North Wales Crusaders, Hereford Harriers and Midlands Hurricanes, while he has also worked across a range of wheelchair sports.
Gary Taylor has been involved with North Wales Crusaders Wheelchair since 2014 and has featured across the club’s Championship, Premier and Super League teams. He moved into coaching and player development, including helping deliver Wheelchair Rugby League through schools across North Wales, and was appointed a Wales assistant coach ahead of the 2022 World Cup.
Dave Abel joins the Wales set-up for the World Cup, having previously worked with both Ireland and Scotland Wheelchair. He began his involvement in Wheelchair Rugby League as a match official in 2008 before moving into coaching, working with Mancunians RLFC, St Helens, Warrington Wolves and Salford Red Devils. He was Head Coach of Salford for the 2026 season.
Alana Sargent brings extensive experience within the Wales Wheelchair programme. She became Wales’ first female Head Coach in 2014 and coached the side to their first Celtic Cup title. She later became one of the first three women to officiate in an RFL Wheelchair Final before returning to coaching with Cardiff Blue Dragons Wheelchair. In this World Cup, she will be Wales Wheelchair Strength and Conditioning Coach as well as lead Team Manager.
Dawn Roberts-McCabe joined the Wales Wheelchair management team in January 2026 as the squad’s first dedicated fundraising volunteer. During her first six months, she secured funding for the team’s Celtic Cup campaign in Edinburgh and has since led the cause for shirt sponsorship for the World Cup. She is Chief Officer of AVOW, Wrexham’s County Voluntary Council, and brings extensive leadership experience from her current role and previous career as a diplomat with the U.S. Foreign Service.
Angharad Sargeant brings extensive professional physiotherapy experience to the Wales Wheelchair set-up, having spent 11 years working with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. She has also developed significant experience in sports care through both codes of rugby. Angharad began her career with the international side in 2014 as a masseur while studying physiotherapy at Keele University, and she travelled to Australia with Wales men for the 2017 World Cup and 2019 World Nines. This progression saw her appointed as head physiotherapist for the Wales men’s team at the 2022 World Cup.
Stephen Jones brings more than a decade of experience within the Wales Wheelchair set-up. He became Wales Head Coach in 2016 and guided the side to five successive Celtic Cup titles and to the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup. He was named the first UK Wheelchair Rugby League Coach of the Year in 2020 and became Head of Wheelchair Rugby League in Wales in 2023. Wales Rugby League’s current Honorary Secretary, he will now serve as Welfare Manager for the 2026 World Cup.
Ian Golden will take charge of media duties for Wales in Australia, having previously fulfilled the role for Wales Wheelchair at the 2022 World Cup and on the 2024 USA tour. He has previously been to Australia with Wales in the 2005 Students World Cup and with the men’s U23 side in the 2018 Commonwealth Nines. He has worked with Wales Rugby League for over 20 years and has reported on every Wales international side, while also building an extensive archive as the organisation’s historian.
Wales Wheelchair World Cup group fixtures (all tournament matches are at the WIN Entertainment Centre in Wollongong)
Friday 30 October 2026 England v Wales (3.30pm local, 4.30am GMT)
Tuesday 3 November 2026 Ireland v Wales (4pm local, 5am GMT)
Friday 6 November 2026 Wales v USA (1.30pm local, 2.30am GMT)
HELP PUT CYMRU ON THE WORLD STAGE
Wales’ Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup campaign is being supported by the 10,000 for CYMRU fundraising appeal.
The campaign aims to raise £10,000 through 10,000 donations of £1, helping meet the costs of taking Wales’ wheelchair team to Australia.
The money will help cover the significant costs of the campaign, including travel to Heathrow Airport, training venue costs in Wales before the tournament, specialist wheelchair requirements, equipment and other essential World Cup expenses.
