England are now highly likely to exit the World Cup in the group stage for the first time
England are on the brink of a Rugby League World Cup pool stage exit despite a 34-12 victory over Papua New Guinea in Wollongong.
Brian McDermott's side's qualification hopes have been out of their own hands since a heavy 30-12 defeat to Tonga in their tournament opener, and required a big win against PNG even after a 82-0 demolition of France.
England needed victory by 70 or more to overtake Samoa on points difference in the standings, which looked a possibility after they scored four tries in the first 21 minutes, only for sloppy errors and an impressive PNG display to halt early momentum.
Jon Wilkin believes the structure of the World Cup was 'fundamentally flawed'
Dom Young was among England's try scorers in their fast start
PNG limited opponents to a penalty goal over the rest of the first half and then scored two converted tries to spark a second-half comeback, with a frustrated England going 48 minutes without a try until Morgan Knowles' score.
Mikey Lewis added another with the final play of the game, but England's 22-point winning margin is likely to be nowhere near enough to avoid a first group-stage exit in their World Cup history.
World Cup qualification hopes in tatters for England
England needed over 20 minutes to open the scoring against France but made a much faster start in this must-win contest, with Matty Ashton touching down in the corner on six minutes after an impressive offload by Herbie Farnworth.
AJ Brimson added another after a brilliant counter-attack, while a sweeping moving saw Dom Young score in the right corner to put England 16-0 up after 19 minutes.
AJ Brimson scored the second of England's six tries
A good offload by Kai Pearce-Paul saw Harry Smith score under the posts soon after, although a scoreless burst left them frustrated and conceding several penalties during the rest of the half.
Hugo Savala converted three of the four tries and added a penalty goal late in a half where England made multiple unforced errors, with no sizeable improvement as PNG grew further into the contest.
Dudley Dotoi powered through a series of challenges to score in the corner, following Gairo Voro's kick, with PNG celebrating again when London Broncos' Gairo Voro capitalised on England conceding six again on the line to find a second try.
Papua New Guinea outscored England in the second half
England's chase for points switched to just maintaining any lead as PNG continued to push forward, with Voro fumbling the ball when having a chance to break free and Brimson later holding Dotoi up close to the line.
Knowles ended England's wait for a try in the 69th minute when he bundled over the line, while Lewis produced some late magic by evading multiple challenges and running over in the corner, although they now look set for an early exit.
Williams: 'Wheels fell off' for England
Jon Wilkin reflects on England's loss to Samoa in the World Cup
England captain George Williams:
"I reckon we were good in the first 20, and then the wheels kind of fell off. Too many errors. Credit to PNG, they didn't stop fighting. We weren't good enough today. Disappointing for us.
"[I'm feeling] pretty rubbish to be honest, obviously we're relying on Tonga to do more than a massive job now. There's a chance [of qualification], but a very slim one. Gutted with that. Thank you to the English fans for travelling out, appreciate your support."
England head coach Brian McDermott:
"It looks like we're going out of the tournament with that score there. That second half got scrappy - the game lost its flow after about 25 minutes and I don't think there was anything to do with what we were doing.
Brian McDermott referenced the World Cup schedule again after seeing his side on the brink of an early exit
"We should have handled that a lot better. Even the Tonga game had a bit more flow than that and that was our first time together, so that was a really difficult situation to find ourselves in the second half. If all we needed to do was win the game, we would have handled the nature of the second half a lot better."
What's next?
The only way for England to avoid a pool stage exit and snatch second spot would be for Tonga to beat Samoa by 48 points or more on Sunday, the final day of group fixtures.
The team finishing runner-up in the combined Group B+C will go onto face Australia in Sydney on November 8, a day from on from the other semi-final in Newcastle, before the final is held in Brisbane on November 15.
