England boss McDermott urges patience in PNG points chase

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England have never previously failed to reach the knockout stages of the World Cup

England boss Brian McDermott has urged his players not to panic as they chase points against Papua New Guinea in Wollongong on Friday (09:05 GMT) in a bid to keep alive their Rugby League World Cup hopes.

For the second successive week, England will have an eye on the scoreboard as they aim to claim a handsome win over the Kumuls.

England need two things to go their way to avoid missing out on the World Cup’s last four for the first time ever. They require a points difference swing of 68 on rivals Samoa – who they need to lose to Tonga on Sunday.

And McDermott is keen for his side to stick to the blueprint that helped them thrash France 82-0 last weekend to keep slim prospects of a semi-final berth within their sights.

“I suppose [it’s a case of] whatever timescale it is before the arm wrestles starts to open up the game for each team… I’m not sure, it could be 15 [minutes], it could be 20, it could be 35, it could be the first half,” McDermott said.

“There’s a discipline in that we don’t start looking for things or searching for things outside of how we want to play. And that was a really impressive trick against France because we knew we had points in us and they weren’t coming for that first 20.”

England were scoreless for the first 22 minutes against Laurent Frayssinous’ side but went through the gears in the second period to record their biggest-ever margin of victory over France.

In contrast, Papua New Guinea looked well in the contest at the halfway stage of their second group match against Samoa last Saturday – only trailing 14-6 – before imploding in the second period and eventually falling to a 64-6 defeat.

68-point swing and a Tonga win – how England avoid World Cup exit

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England crush France 82-0 to stay in Rugby League World Cup contention

England’s pursuit of points has led to Warrington winger Matty Ashton retaining his spot on the left.

And the more offensive style of Hull KR’s Jez Litten has been preferred at hooker to Wigan’s Brad O’Neill, who was recently crowned Super League Man of Steel and is among the interchanges along with club team-mate Zach Eckersley.

“It’s that hard call knowing that you’ve got to have a tough chat with someone like Brad O’Neill, who’s probably not doing anything wrong,” McDermott said.

“It’s more about, I guess, the best fit for gameplan. They all understand the concept of it being a squad effort. It’s not just a team effort.

“We’ve got a specific task this weekend against PNG and I think it’ll be a stiffer test than it was against France last week. And we find ourselves in a similar situation, because we don’t just need to beat them, we need to beat them convincingly.

“Picking a team that’s best suited to that is the main task. So yeah, they’re not the easiest conversations to have, but they are when the player themselves has got a lot of humility – and Brad was great.”

While Brisbane Broncos prop Ben Talty is yet to feature for England, late call-up Kallum Watkins is another on the interchange bench with Victor Radley and Jack Welsby dropping out.

Morgan Knowles, meanwhile, is set to appear for the first time in the tournament.

Knowles’ physical presence was sorely missed in England’s 30-12 defeat by Tonga on 17 October as he recovered from a calf issue.

The Dolphins forward’s return to action comes at a busy time – as he and his wife have just welcomed their third child to their family.

“The baby was delivered yesterday [Wednesday]. I haven’t spoke to Morgan yet, but he’s probably got his hands full changing nappies,” McDermott said.

“He’s had a fair bit going on, but I’m really keen to get him in the team and looking forward to watching him play tomorrow.

“He’ll be good and he’s really keen to get back with the team and start playing. Everybody’s pleased for Morgan and you know, we’ll all go for it.”

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England battle hardened for make-or-break Samoa match

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Meanwhile, England women’s prop Vicky Whitfield has suggested that their chastening 78-0 defeat against reigning world champions Australia was the “best preparation” they could have for a make-or-break final group game against Samoa on Friday (06:45 GMT).

Whoever triumphs in the Pool A contest will earn a spot in the semi-finals against the winners of Pool B, New Zealand.

Whitfield says that England should now be more battle hardened against a Samoa side, who were not as comprehensively outclassed in their 40-0 loss to the Jillaroos in their opener on 16 October.

“It gets us used to that quicker pace. Australia threw a lot of shape at us. So defensively, it was a great test for us to have going into this game,” Whitfield said.

“It got us used to mapping off and being able to defend against that sort of shape. So yeah, [it’s the] best preparation really.

“We knew coming into this week that this game was the one that was really important to us. We did what we did and then have had that focus of going again and resetting.”

While England are yet to appear in a women’s final (Great Britain lost to New Zealand in the showpiece match in 2000), a fifth consecutive appearance in the last four has been a clear objective for Stuart Barrow’s squad from the outset.

“It’s everything that we want,” Whitefield said.

“If that was to happen, we would be buzzing as a team and it would just be a really great feeling to know that we’ve managed to do what we’ve come out here to do, get to a semi and then hopefully perform in that as well.”

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