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Australia's National Rugby League (NRL) has come a long way from its humble origins in New South Wales and is now one of the country's most popular sports.
With teams from Australia and New Zealand battling for supremacy and thousands of fans heading to the bright lights of Las Vegas to watch NRL fixtures stateside, the 2025 season promises to keep you on the edge of your seat, as the entire division does its utmost to block Penrith Panthers from securing a remarkable five-in-a-row victory. You won't want to miss a single match.
Unfortunately, it can be all too easy to miss NRL matches in the UK due to frustrating geo-restrictions on streaming platforms. But with access to the correct tools, you can stream every match of the new National Rugby League season, including the best-of-three State of Origin series and unmissable Grand Final.
Searching for how to stream the Australian NRL season from the UK? We've got everything you need to know to watch every match in the 2025 season online, including an option to watch for free with ExpressVPN.
Sign-up for 3 months of ExpressVPN for FREE and unlock NRL matches anywhere
Sign-up to an annual plan with ExpressVPN and unlock an additional three months of its award-winning service for free. ExpressVPN has apps for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Linux, Fire TV, Apple TV, routers, and even gaming consoles like PlayStation and Xbox. It offers 24/7 customer support and a 30-day money-back guarantee, which serves like a free trial when signing-up to a longer contract to unlock the best VPN deal
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How to watch NRL matches in the UK
If you're looking to watch Aussie National Rugby League matches in the UK, there are a limited number of options. Sky Sports offers limited coverage, broadcasting an average of matches each week throughout the season, as well as the Finals Series and State of Origin.
You can watch everything shown on Sky Sports via the best Sky Stream deals and Sky Glass deals, or with older set-top boxes, like Sky Q and Sky+ HD — both still reliant on satellite dishes.
Everything shown on Sky Sports live and on-demand is available via NOW, formerly NOW TV, with access available for as little as 24 hours.
But what if you want to watch every match? That's when a VPN becomes essential.
Penrith Panthers players celebrate at full-time after winning the NRL Grand Final match last year
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Geo-restrictions are used to restrict where certain content — or streaming services — can be accessed. This is because certain services, like Australia's 9Now, only have the rights to show these matches in specific regions.
With a VPN routing all of your online activity via one of its server locations in Australia, you're able to bypass these restrictions. Using this method, it'll appear as if you're browsing from Australia or another country where full NRL coverage is available.
Sign-up for 3 months of ExpressVPN for FREE and unlock NRL matches anywhere
Sign-up to an annual plan with ExpressVPN and unlock an additional three months of its award-winning service for free. ExpressVPN has apps for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Linux, Fire TV, Apple TV, routers, and even gaming consoles like PlayStation and Xbox. It offers 24/7 customer support and a 30-day money-back guarantee, which serves like a free trial when signing-up to a longer contract to unlock the best VPN deal
ExpressVPN
£10.46
£0
Free streaming options, like 9Now or paid services like Watch NRL, will work as if you're on holiday located in the correct part of the globe to stream from their servers. When you connect to a VPN server in Australia, websites and streaming platforms will see your connection as coming from Australia rather than the UK, for example.
This means you'll never miss a moment of the action, even while travelling abroad.
While there's nothing illegal about using a VPN — these popular applications are often a requirement when working abroad or outside of the office with a work laptop, for example — you'll need to check the terms and conditions of individual streaming services to make sure you're not violating its terms.
How to stream NRL matches for free
As highlighted above, there are several broadcasters that offer National Rugby League (NRL) coverage for free. However, as you might expect, these are primarily restricted to Australia.
For example, 9Now is the on-demand and live-streaming platform from Australia’s Nine Network, offering a mix of entertainment, news, sport, and reality TV—completely free.
Launched in January 2016, it replaced Nine’s previous digital service, dubbed 9Jumpin, and has since become a go-to for Aussie viewers looking to catch up on hit shows like Married at First Sight Australia, Love Island Australia, and live coverage of major sport events.
Given that 9Now is free to stream and supported by ad breaks, it's currently restricted to use within Australia. If you try to access it from abroad, you’ll hit a location-blocking error.
With a slick interface and zero-cost access (aside from the occasional ad break), 9Now is an easy win for Australian viewers wanting premium content without a subscription. But if you're outside the country, you'll need a workaround—or a different streaming service altogether.
Penrith Panthers' Paul Alamoti scores a try during the National Rugby League (NRL) Grand Final match at Accor Stadium on October 6, 2024
GETTY IMAGES
Some users turn to VPNs to bypass these restrictions, though it's worth noting this isn’t officially supported by Australia's Nine Network.
However, Australians who find themselves abroad for work or holiday could be forced to consider using a VPN to access the streamers they'd be able to watch free of charge from their sofa at home.
For UK viewers, a subscription to a VPN and ad-supported streaming via Australia's 9Now streaming service, which offers up to four live games per week completely free, is likely the most cost-effective way to watch.
National Rugby League (NRL) matches are available to stream across your devices using the 9Now app
9NOW PRESS OFFICE
9Now also provides the State of Origin series and the NRL Grand Final for free. The platform includes on-demand content such as full match replays, mini-matches, and highlights for catching up at your convenience.
If you want to unlock 9Now from anywhere in the world, follow these steps:
- Sign up for a VPN — like ExpressVPN
- Download the app to your preferred device (the best VPN deals include unlimited access to apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, more).
- Open the app and connect to a VPN server located in Australia
- Connect to 9Now on the device where you'd like to watch
- Sign-in to 9Now or create an account
- Watch the latest NRL matches from anywhere in the world
Australia's National Rugby League matches are also available via streaming service DAZN.
The popular streamer, known for its comprehensive coverage of Box Office fights, recently signed a $3.4bn deal to become Foxtel's new owner.
In its heyday, Foxtel was one of Australia's most profitable media companies, reaching nearly one in every three households across the country. NRL matches will be available to stream via the existing DAZN app.
Benefits of ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN is particularly well-suited for streaming as it boasts VPN server locations in 105 countries providing access to global coverage. It offers ultra-fast speeds on a 10-Gbps network, essential for high-quality streaming without buffering.
With military-grade encryption, a strict no-logs policy, and features like split tunneling and a kill switch, your online activity stays private.
Based in the British Virgin Islands — outside Five Eyes jurisdiction — it avoids mandatory data retention laws, which means that even if the company was collecting data (it's not), law enforcement from the UK and US would be unable to compel ExpressVPN to hand over any information about its subscribers.
ExpressVPN supports a wide range of devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, smart TVs, and routers. There's no limit on the number of ExpressVPN apps that you can download on your devices, and with a single subscription, you can connect to the VPN on eight gadgets at once.
Virtual Private Networks, like ExpressVPN, mask your real location by routing traffic through servers in different countries, tricking services into thinking you're elsewhere EXPRESSVPN PRESS OFFICE It also has a dedicated team that optimises the service for major streaming platforms. Round-the-clock customer support is available if you encounter any issues during race weekend.
ExpressVPN isn't the cheapest VPN. However, its 30-day money-back guarantee makes it a risk-free choice for privacy-conscious users and frequent streamers.
It should also give new customers the confidence to subscribe to one of its longer contracts, which unlock the biggest discounts.
What is National Rugby League?
The National Rugby League (NRL) is Australia’s top-tier professional rugby league competition, known for its fast-paced, hard-hitting action. Launched in 1998 following the merger of the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and Super League, the NRL has since grown into one of the country’s most-watched sporting leagues — drawing millions of fans both in stadiums and on TV.
NRL includes 17 teams, with 16 originating from Australia and 1 from New Zealand, who compete in a season that runs from March to October every year.
Rugby league enjoys a massive following in New South Wales and Queensland, with the annual State of Origin series—a fierce rivalry between NSW and QLD—widely regarded as one of the greatest sporting spectacles in Australia. The NRL Grand Final also ranks among the biggest sporting events in the country, pulling in millions of viewers each year.
Beyond Australia, the league has a growing international audience, particularly in New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, and the UK. With high-intensity matches, superstar players, and a deeply passionate fanbase, the NRL remains the pinnacle of rugby league worldwide.
The 2025 season has already made history by hosting opening matches in Las Vegas for the second consecutive year, part of the NRL's strategy to expand its global reach.
Penrith Panthers are the team to beat, having won an unprecedented four consecutive premierships, with Melbourne Storm and Brisbane Broncos among their main challengers.
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What is a VPN?
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is software that protects and anonymises everything you do online. VPNs can conceal your online activities by routing traffic through an encrypted tunnel that connects to secure servers worldwide.
The most reliable VPNs employ the same encryption standard as governments in the United Kingdom and the United States, ensuring that even your Internet Service Provider (ISP) connected to Wi-Fi cannot record the websites you visit, the duration of your sessions on each site, or your current location. This protection extends to advertisers, trackers, and hackers, preventing them from monitoring your online behaviour.
Furthermore, personal information entered into online forms and sensitive data transmitted to and from your device will be safeguarded from hackers using strong encryption provided by a VPN.
