England look set to crash out of the Rugby League World Cup despite being Papua New Guinea in their final game of the group stage.

Brian McDermott’s side won 34-12 but they knew they needed to win by far more on account of their inferior points difference to Samoa, who play Tonga in the final game of the group stage on Sunday morning.

England entered this game knowing they needed Samoa to lose and that they also needed to make up 68 points and after 20 minutes, that looked possible as they led 22-0. However, they didn’t score another try until the 69th minute and instead allowed PNG into the game with the Kumuls scoring two tries.

It’s a result that surely ends England’s World Cup but it also has a far bigger impact on rugby league in England as a whole. Here are five things we learnt.

Five things we learnt from England Papua New Guinea in Rugby League World Cup

Are England still a top five nation?

Last year’s Ashes series showcased that England are a long way from the pinnacle of the sport but this World Cup has rubber stamped that fact. A loss on opening night to Tonga was disappointing but clear tiers within the international game are now emerging, and England are not in the top two.

Australia and New Zealand are still the standout nations whilst Tonga and Samoa are hot on their heels but England now sit a distant fifth and given just how disappointing that second half was, you’d argue that PNG aren’t too far behind England.

With the Pacific Nations continuing to play against one another and improve year on year, England are in real danger of being overtaken by PNG or Fiji and becoming the sixth-best team in the world.

Chasing points kills England

England started the game very strong and that was reflected in the scoreboard as they led by 22-0 after just 20 minutes but from that point, a switch was flicked.

Rather than continue to try and earn their points, as they did in the opening quarter, England seemed to try and chase those points rather than keep up the process that had proven so fruitful.

Brian McDermott made it clear that his side would have a point of difference and that’s been characterised by lots of offloads but so many went to ground, so many passes were misplaced, and so many errors were made. A total of 20 errors and 10 penalties across the match and a completion rate below 60% highlight just how much England abandoned their game plan and that’s what is so painful for England.

Tonga must now beat Samoa by 47 points for England to progress to the semi-finals where they would meet Australia, something that seems very unlikely.

Huge call backfires

Brian McDermott made the decision earlier in the week that Jez Litten was the man to start this game at hooker instead of Brad O’Neill, a decision that at the time was backed by many given the impact Litten had made against France.

However, the issue with a player starting is that they cannot offer that impact from the bench and that was very evident today. England started fast as they scored 22 points in the opening 20 and it was at that point in the first half last week that Litten was introduced and England’s scoring started, however, this week there was no such change.

Instead, Litten played until the hour mark at which point Mikey Lewis was introduced at nine to try and inject something, though England’s hopes of progressing were long gone by then with PNG well on top.

Hindsight is 20/20 but starting O’Neill and continuing the trend of Litten as an impact player now looks like it would and should have remained the game plan, and the decision to move away from that will surely lead to questions for Brian McDermott.

England’s future

England went into this World Cup with no warm-up games and no squad meet-ups so Brian McDermott certainly gets some allowance for that but his future is now up in the air.

So too is the future of England rugby league because so many changes need to be made if they’re to compete on the international stage but locking in a head coach to a long-term deal and allowing a complete programme to be fleshed out is the most significant part of it.

The RFL must now decide and either back or sack McDermott but the sample size on making that decision is so small and the final 60 minutes of this game will leave a bad taste in the mouth for all with an interest in England.

PNG’s rising stars

Plenty of Papua New Guinea players shone but the London Broncos pair of Finley Glare and Gairo Voro were the standouts for the Kumuls and it’s clear to see why the PNG Chiefs have signed them both on development contracts.

The bigger question is if they could play Super League or NRL now and should London come into Super League, we will uncover the answer to that in 2027.

Another standout for PNG was winger Dudley Dotoi who has over 50 tries in the past two seasons in the Queensland Cup and will surely get some NRL and Super League interest. With the Chiefs now set to offer a professional NRL club in Papua New Guinea, expect more of these young talent emerge over the next decade.

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