“We still never give up” - Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney fight back from 5-2 down as Northern Ireland’s World Cup defence survives Belgium thriller

Northern Ireland’s World Cup of Darts defence is still alive, but Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney were made to work desperately hard before escaping Belgium in a last-leg thriller.

The defending champions came through 8-7 in Frankfurt, averaging 94.21 to Belgium’s 86.83, after Mike De Decker and Dimitri Van den Bergh had opened up leads of 4-1 and 5-2. Gurney eventually took out 102 in the deciding leg to send Northern Ireland into a quarter-final against Latvia.

Rock admitted Belgium had found a level that had not fully appeared in the group stage, where De Decker and Van den Bergh had looked vulnerable before reaching the last 16.c“I do not think we expected them to play as well as they did, because obviously in the group stages they were not up to scratch with the way we know they can play,” Rock told Dartsnews.com. “They are both major champions and they were not clicking, but they did what they did in the end.”

Northern Ireland were in trouble at the break. Rock’s answer was simple. “We were under the break 5-2 down, but we still never give up,” he said. “That is why we are sitting here now.”

Belgium had control of the scoreboard for most of the first half of the match. De Decker took out 77 for 4-1, helped move Belgium 5-2 clear, and later restored a two-leg advantage at 6-4 after Rock missed double 16 to level.

Northern Ireland kept dragging themselves back. Gurney punished three missed darts from Van den Bergh for 5-4, Rock finished 34 for 6-5, and Gurney forced the deciding leg on double four after Belgium had gone 7-6 up.

Even at 5-2 down, Gurney did not feel the match had moved beyond them. “Honestly, I still thought we were the better team,” he said. “Marginally, but all we had to do was take out that one dart at a double. If we could do that, I felt like we could get back into the game, because I felt like we were a dart ahead.”

The late swing still tested Northern Ireland. Gurney had missed three darts on the wire before De Decker made it 7-6, but he later returned in the decider after Rock’s 140 had left 102. “I am just glad to get over the finish line, to be honest,” Gurney said.

Northern Ireland’s seeded status meant they entered the tournament directly at the last-16 stage, while Belgium had already been through the group phase. Rock said that brought advantages and disadvantages.

“Yes and no,” he said when asked whether coming in cold made the first match harder. “You maybe think of experience for me and Daryl over the years, with him winning majors and me playing the Premier League.

“But saying that, you have Dimitri, who has won the Matchplay and the UK Open. Then you have Mike, who has won the Grand Prix. So it is six of one, half a dozen of the other. You do not know what is going to happen, but I am just happy we got over the line.”

Gurney felt Northern Ireland needed the pressure of the stage after waiting for their campaign to begin. “I just feel like in the back room, we were a bit complacent,” he said. “Not like we were going to win, but we could not wait to get on the stage, play and feel the pressure, rather than sitting four nights in the back.”

At 5-2 down, the conversation changed. “When it was 5-2 down at the break, Josh just said to me: now we have to start playing darts,” Gurney continued. “Basically, that is what we started doing. We stopped giving them the opportunities that we did in the first half of the game. When we did get the opportunities, we took them, and that is what got us back into the game.”

Northern Ireland still needed the final-leg break to survive. “Thankfully, with a wee bit of luck, we broke the throw in the last leg, and here we are,” Gurney said.

Belgium’s route through the group had been tense, with other results still able to affect whether De Decker and Van den Bergh progressed. Gurney said Northern Ireland had spoken to Van den Bergh before the last-16 meeting was confirmed. “We were watching the darts last night and we spoke to Dimitri,” Gurney said. “He was the first person we spoke to. Dimitri was saying: ‘We need this result, and if this result does not happen, we are out.’”

Hong Kong were part of that qualification picture, and Gurney praised their campaign before turning back to Belgium. “I will tell you what, Hong Kong for me were the best Asian team in the competition,” he said. “I think both of them are great. I think both of them are superstars. Hopefully somebody supports both of those players and they get a chance at Q-School.”

Belgium eventually came through, giving Northern Ireland a meeting with a pair that Gurney never expected to beat comfortably. “I honestly felt like they had not really gelled as a team as well as they can, because they are good friends,” he said. “I did not think me and Josh would have walked the game at any time.”

Rock said he had not taken in much of the pre-match introduction as Northern Ireland returned as reigning champions. “From my perspective, I was not really paying much attention,” he said. “I was seeing people with their cards out, so I do not know what they were doing. I did not hear him, if I am being honest.”

The champion’s tag was not something either player wanted to carry too heavily into the match. Rock said the opening hurdle was the awkward one. “Not now after winning the first game,” he said when asked about pressure. “The first game is always a difficult one.”

Northern Ireland’s 2025 title run made Rock and Gurney the team to beat this year, but Rock kept the focus on the partnership rather than the defence. “If you are coming in here as defending champions, which I was not thinking of and Daryl was not thinking of either, we are just here as a team,” he added. “We are here to kick on, and we did that tonight. Hopefully we will be doing it for two more.”

Rock produced some of his best darts in Frankfurt last year, but he said the World Cup feels different from individual events because of the team dynamic with Gurney. “It is completely different,” he said. “I came in here with Daryl and I was really excited to play with him, as I was last year.”

Northern Ireland now have Latvia between them and another World Cup semi-final. Their defence remains alive, but only after Belgium forced the champions into their first major scare of the weekend.