Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney are reigning World Cup of Darts champions, but Rock is ready to look elsewhere this year.
Northern Ireland achieved a historic win at the 2025 BetVictor Darts World Cup, beating Wales 10-9 in a dramatic final in Frankfurt.
Rock and Gurney, the tournament’s fourth seeds, mustered up their courage and then cried as they attempted to make history for their country.
Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney were left in tears after winning the World Cup of Darts in a final showdown.
The duo enters this year’s tournament as third seeds and will be joined in action on Saturday by top seeds Luke Littler and Luke Humphries of England, Michael van Gerwen and Gian van Veen of the Netherlands, and fourth seeds Gary Anderson and Cameron Menzies of Scotland.
The Rock expects all focus to be on how Littler and Humphries will fare in their second World Cup appearance, despite having a better partnership than most in 2025.
Britain’s world Nos. 1 and 2 fell dramatically in the second round, losing on their debut as a pair to Germany’s Ricardo Pietrecko and Martin Schindler.
“I can’t believe it’s already been a year,” Rock said.
Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney have tried to put into words how they felt after Northern Ireland won their first ever World Cup of Darts.
“It’s been a very fast year so I’m really looking forward to taking the pressure off.
“I don’t know how Daryl feels because I haven’t talked to him much about it. I don’t want to think about it too much, but I’m looking forward to defending this title.
“Obviously everyone is talking about England, last year no one thought anything would happen other than the Rooks winning it.
“So it’s going to feel the same this year, even more so this year. It didn’t happen last year, so it’s not going to happen again.”
Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Darts World Cup 2nd round match highlights between England and Germany
Littler and Humphries are the clear favorites once again and many are expecting them to be a different force this time around, but Rock insists the pair’s game is very different.
In fact, he attributes his and Gurney’s success to the fact that they did a lot of work together behind the scenes to solve problems.
“I don’t know if they will click again or not. Pairs is a completely different game than singles so it’s definitely up to them to pull together the forces behind them to work together. So, that’s up to them,” he added.
Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Germany dominated pre-tournament champions England in the second round of the Darts World Cup, defeating Luke Littler and Luke Humphries.
“Everyone else just has to worry about themselves.
“I think it would really help a lot if we had very close partnerships. It would probably take the burden off each individual.
There’s a lot more going on and obviously me and Daryl are doing a lot together behind the scenes, so that helps a lot.
“They’re number one and number two in the world, so they’re always going to be top two anyway.
“It will always be between them and of course they are the people doing business at that moment.
“Hopefully me and Daryl can sneak out and win again.”
Who will win this year’s Darts World Cup? Northern Ireland are set to defend their title and you can watch all the action on Sky Sports from 11-14 June. Stream darts and other top sports with NOW.
