England’s Rugby League World Cup all but over despite victory over Papua New Guinea

England’s Rugby League World Cup hopes are all but over after they failed to secure the big win they needed against Papua New Guinea on Friday.

Brian McDermott’s side claimed a 34-12 victory in their final pool match in Wollongong, but they needed to prevail by a far bigger margin to overhaul Samoa’s superior points difference.

Barring the highly unlikely prospect of Tonga beating Samoa by at least 46 points on Sunday, England will miss out on a semi-final place and head home.

They started well enough, scoring early tries through Matty Ashton, AJ Brimson, Dom Young and Harry Smith and running at a point a minute.

But England could not maintain the momentum, allowing PNG to regroup after a torrid opening.

The Kumuls then proved a different proposition in the second half, scoring tries through Dudley Dotoi and London Broncos ace Gairo Voro.

England failed to handle the pressure and committed numerous errors.

Morgan Knowles and Mikey Lewis did add late tries but there was no masking England’s frustration. They can now only wait and hope for an unlikely reprieve.

There was little sign of the error-strewn performance to come as England started strongly.

Wigan Warriors forward Junior Nsemba created their first opening after three minutes, but Herbie Farnworth’s effort was ruled out for a Brimson knock-on.

England then survived a scare when Dotoi threatened to score in the corner, only for play to be pulled back for a forward pass.

They took the lead after six minutes as Farnworth’s quick hands released Ashton, who arced around two defenders to score.

Brimson finished off a sweeping move to extend the advantage before sustained pressure created space for Young to touch down out wide.

A clever flick from Kai Pearce-Paul then sent Smith over under the posts and, with Hugo Savala landing his third conversion, England led 22-0 after 22 minutes.

But they were unable to maintain that rate and did not cross again in the first half as PNG showed greater resilience and enjoyed more possession. Savala added another two points when he landed a penalty on the stroke of half-time.

PNG went on the attack after the break and claimed the next try when Dotoi leapt above the defence to grab Voro’s high kick and ground the ball over the line.

England were rocked and failed to deal with further PNG pressure. They conceded again when Voro found a gap and skipped through for another try.

PNG threatened more as England were repeatedly hampered by their own mistakes.

Knowles touched down 11 minutes from time, and Lewis raced in to claim another in the last minute, but they felt like consolations.