Brian McDermott spoke to the media following England’s defeat to Tonga to open up their Rugby League World Cup campaign.

Here’s everything he said following the 30-12 defeat.

General thoughts

“It was a really good contest and when it wasn’t a contest that was probably more to do with us in the areas that we made. Yeah, they’re a big team, a strong team. We’ve got some tremendous players in there and I thought we stuck toe-to-toe with them for nearly all the game.

“Some tries through kicks, which are always hard to defend, and then towards the back end of the game. We made some errors there chasing the scoreboard, which I’m not going to say is an easy fix, but it’s something I can change easily.”

Did the players adapt to his playing style?

“On occasions. I think we opened up in that first 20 and whether we went through the middle or went through the edge, we found ourselves in a good ball position. We had some scrappy finishes to those good ball sets.

“Whether we made an error or even if we got to the end of the set, it was a scrappy finish and it was too erratic. We wanted to put a load of fatigue into Tonga and credit Tonga as well. I thought they were terrific defensively in terms of breaching their line and cracking their line open.

“I thought we did that two or three times in that first half, but they came up with some try-saving tackles. A lot of credit goes to Tonga. The fact that we didn’t score on the try-line doesn’t suggest that our game plan needs to change. We’ve just got to be more patient and knock off the ball as much as we can.”

Getting through the group stages

“We know what’s in front of us now. We’ve got to win the next two games. We’ve got to improve on the things that we need to improve upon.

“But, again, I’ve seen enough tonight, which is telling me that we’re heading in the right direction. And, again, when you can identify when you’ve lost and it’s not to do with being physically outdone or strategically outdone, which I don’t think it was, it gives me tremendous amount of confidence.

“It’s a bit ironic, isn’t it? Because I’ve just been said about not chasing points and not chasing scoreboards. We certainly don’t want to trip ourselves up.

“I don’t know. It’s going to be tremendously disrespectful to either France or PNG to suggest that we’re going to rack a load of points up on Saturday right now. Real early after the game, we’ll come up with a plan for France, we’ll come up with a plan for PNG.”

Team changes and injuries

“Let me review the game first. No, none (injuries) as of yet.”

Other nations improving

“Well, that’s a big question. It’s great that Tonga’s a really strong nation. It’s brilliant that Samoa’s a really strong nation.

“It’s brilliant that Fiji and PNG are improving all the time. It’s great for the international game, but we’re not going to open the can of worms about England’s position on the international scene. All we can do right here, right now, is just go out and put in a tonne of effort and win the field like we did right tonight.”