“We’ll see what England turn up...” - Wales kick-start mind games before Luke Littler and Luke Humphries return at World Cup of Darts

Luke Littler and Luke Humphries still have Spain in front of them, but Wales are already waiting on Sunday after Jonny Clayton and Nick Kenny battled past the United States 8-5 at the 2026 World Cup of Darts.

Kenny had not long walked off stage when England’s return entered the conversation. The Welsh pair had averaged 89.32, survived an American fightback from 6-2 to 6-5, and leaned on two brilliant 141 checkouts from Clayton to stop Stowe Buntz and Adam Sevada.

“I think they are both brilliant,” Kenny said in conversation with Dartsnews.com and others post-match, of Littler and Humphries. “Humphries, I think, is a robot, and Littler is just so special. A lot of us have got a lot to thank him for, really.”

Spain, though, had already topped Group K to earn their last-16 shot at England, and Kenny was not treating that match as a formality. “But do not underestimate Spain,” he added. “They are a good team. We will see what England turn up tonight.”

England’s return comes 12 months after Littler and Humphries were beaten 8-4 by Germany in their opening match, a defeat Clayton and then Wales partner Gerwyn Price both commented on critically at the time. Wales have already done their part of the draw. England still have to answer theirs.

Wales’ route to the quarter-finals almost turned late. Clayton and Kenny had led 4-2, then 5-2, with Clayton taking out the first of his two 141 finishes after Kenny left him the shot.

The advantage stretched to 6-2 when Wales held after the USA missed 112. A missed 97 for 7-2 opened the door, and Buntz and Sevada came back hard, breaking on double five before cutting the Welsh lead to 6-5.

Clayton took out 141 again for 7-5. Wales then finished the job on 33 after the USA could not land 154. “It did not start great for me personally,” Kenny said. “But to be fair, Jonny won them two 141s. When he left the second one, I said, ‘Just do it again, mate.’ And he did. I was like, ‘What is going on?’”

The late wobble did not spoil Kenny’s reaction after Wales got over the line. “Absolutely brilliant,” he said. “I settled into it probably halfway through the first session, as I said to Sky. Then a couple of missed doubles let them back in, but we got over the line in the end, so we are absolutely buzzing.”

Kenny had already suggested during the group stage that Wales had more in them. After beating the USA, he went further. “We have not reached our potential,” he said. “We have not reached the ceiling yet. If I can play my A-game, look out basically.”

Clayton and Kenny are now three wins from three in Frankfurt, with Wales moving through the group stage before beating a USA team that had already knocked out Australia and Canada. Clayton’s finishing carried the last-16 tie, but Kenny also produced important darts in the first half before the match tightened. “It is the best,” Kenny said of playing doubles with Clayton. “He is top ten in the world for a reason.”

He added: “Them two 141s pulled me out of trouble a little bit there. It was obviously a longer format, and that was probably my best performance in patches. A couple of 180s, I do not know how many it was, two or three.”

Kenny still gave Clayton top billing after the win. “I hit big doubles in the first half of the match to carry us a little bit, but he is the main man,” he said. “It shows why he is top ten in the world. Absolutely amazing.” Clayton replied: “Legend.”

With Gerwyn Price absent from this year’s Welsh team, Clayton was asked about carrying the captaincy and greater responsibility. He cut across the premise immediately. “Get that one right, because I was captain when Gezzy played last year,” Clayton said. “Get it right!”

Clayton and Price won the World Cup together in 2023, while Kenny has now stepped into the Welsh team for 2026. Clayton was not interested in dressing up the change beyond the result. “Genuinely, we are there to win games,” he said. “It does not matter how we do it.”

The USA match did not give Wales a straight run to the line. Clayton and Kenny began nervously, moved clear, dropped off, then found the last darts after the American surge. “We were both a bit nervous in the beginning,” Clayton said. “We clicked, then we went off the boil, and then we came back onto it. It is a game of darts. Pairs is a tough match.”

He added: “It would be an easy game if everything went right, wouldn’t it? It would be boring. But we keep it exciting, Nick, and we are through to the quarters. That is all that counts.”

Wales have reached the quarter-finals through three matches, while the top four seeds entered at the last-16 stage. Clayton was asked about William O'Connor’s criticism of the system after the Republic of Ireland beat Poland earlier in the afternoon.

“Well, if I was in the top four seeds, I would take that,” Clayton said. “I do not know how to answer that. I have played in both now. Obviously, it is a longer format starting on Thursday rather than Saturday, but you have got to do a job and we are here on Sunday.”

Clayton’s answer stayed on the only marker that mattered to Wales. “It does not matter how we do it, as long as you are here on Sunday,” he said. “That is all that counts.”

The heat was also raised after several days of matches in Frankfurt. Kenny said he felt it more before the match than during it, while Sevada appeared to have a harder time on stage.

“I felt a bit warmer this morning, but up there it was okay, to be honest,” Kenny said. “It did not really affect me. I think it might have affected the USA lads a bit. Sevada was struggling a little bit with the sweat. This morning you could feel it, but up on the stage it did not really affect us.”

Wales’ next opponent will be confirmed in the evening session. Littler and Humphries bring the biggest names in the draw, but England’s World Cup pairing still carries the memory of last year’s defeat to Germany.

Spain arrived at the last 16 after winning Group K, including a 4-3 victory over Croatia and a 4-1 win over Japan. Kenny mentioned them before England had even played.

“At the end of the day, whoever we play, we are focused on us, Team Wales, and we want to win,” he said. “We are not turning up tomorrow and buggering off. We want to win. We are up for it.”

Wales are already in Sunday’s quarter-finals, with Clayton’s two 141s behind them and Kenny’s England line hanging over the evening.