Meet Scott Gobin: Leeds Rhinos and England's Rugby League World Cup-winning captain

The hosts face France at Manchester Central on Friday, less than three weeks after England - skippered by Rhinos’ Scott Gobin - won the first physical disability rugby league (PDRL) world championship, beating New Zealand 42-10 in the final at Warrington’s HJ Stadium.

“There’s not many people have won a World Cup for England, is there?” Gobin, who was among the try scorers in the final, said.

“It was a fantastic experience, unbelievable. When the final whistle went, it was just disbelief. It is unreal, you don’t know what to expect, the emotion overcomes you.

“You are thinking ‘have we really done this?’ and it still hasn’t really sunk in yet. It was fantastic all round.”

England’s men and women both went out of the World Cup at the semi-final stage, but Gobin hopes the wheelchair team will be inspired by the PDRL side’s success.

“I know they watched us in our final so that is going to spur them on,” he said. “I’d like to think if we can do it, there’s no reason why they can’t.”

This year’s inaugural PDRL World Cup final was streamed live by the BBC and Gobin added: “The coverage we got from BBC and Our League [the RFL’s app] was fantastic.

“We are not used to getting that sort of publicity and people who’ve watched it have turned around and said ‘what a sport this is’.

“They were expecting touch and pass, but when they saw the contact and the physicality and the skill, they were blown away. The support we have received off the back of it was fantastic.”

Despite their triumph, England’s PDRL squad have not been invited to the finals day at Old Trafford on Saturday.

Gobin would like to see the PDRL competition integrated fully into the World Cup in France in three years’ time. He said: “We want to be classed as elite.

“The skills we showed were fantastic, the lads train and play week-in and week-out and there’s no reason why we can’t be on the big stage with the rest of them.”

Rhinos have been at the heart of PDRL’s development, taking part in the first match staged in this country, against Warrington.

They beat Wakefield Trinity in golden-point extra-time to win this year’s Super League title and Gobin reflected: “We’d steadily been building throughout the season.

“We started a bit slow, we were a bit scrappy, but we got to about the midway point of the season and started playing pretty well.

“Our defence was getting better week-in and week-out and every time we went into a new game, a new festival, we didn’t feel like we were going to lose.

“We got on to a bit of a run, went into the finals and played Warrington in the semi-final and beat them comfortably.

“We knew Wakefield was going to be a tough fixture, but we felt we could beat them. We went into the final full of confidence and when it got to full time and we were drawing, we just thought ‘we’ve got this’.

“We had that self belief. Wakefield kicked off and in the first set we went the full length and scored.

“That was just the belief and confidence we’d built throughout the season. It was a fantastic season overall and hopefully we can do it again next year.”

Gobin is from Leeds, but now lives in York and is an HR administrator for veterinary group VetPartners, which has its headquarters in the city.

As well as his commitments with England and Leeds, Gobin plays non-disability rugby for Drighlington and said: “I was born with one arm so I don’t know any different. I got introduced to rugby from being five years old and I’ve played it ever since.

“The teams I’ve played for - Churwell to start with and then Drighlington - have accepted me and helped me grow as a person. They have given me opportunities and not pushed me away.”