England’s NRL connections were to the fore as they dispatched France in another commanding performance, winning out 42-18 at the University of Bolton Stadium to book a spot in the World Cup quarter finals.
Victor Radley, Herbie Farnworth, Dom Young and Luke Thompson were exceptional, while former NRL talents George Williams and John Bateman also shone.
Radley, named man of the match last week, backed up with another standout performance: alongside his trademark defensive intensity, he crossed for his first in the colours of his father’s homeland and set up another, with Bulldogs prop Thompson able to capitalise on excellent work down the middle from the Roosters lock.
Young, meanwhile, is fast becoming the darling of the British crowd with his fearless carries from yardage and broken play running lifting backsides off seats repeatedly.
Williams might have entered the tournament on the back of a shocking season with Warrington, but was again at the heart of everything good that his country did with ball in hand, while Farnworth also impressed again.
England’s performance was at times exceptional, though also went through periods of stagnation. That, in part, might be praise for France: unlike Samoa last week, they played with heart, aggression and no little creativity to reel the hosts back in at the end of both halves.
England had begun with a bang. They were on the board within five minutes as Williams kicked, Sam Tomkins batted back for Chris Hill, not a man known for his dexterity, to show a remarkable amount of it to tap on for Williams again to find Ryan Hall.
Hall managed zero tries in two years with the Sydney Roosters, but this was his 36th in England colours, enough to move him into the top five all-time at international level. Number 37 followed five minutes later, again with Williams throwing a speculator that Farnworth iced to his winger.
At 18-0 down with 23 minutes played, it looked like another walk in the park for Shaun Wane’s men, but by half time, he could be seen on the television footage reading the riot act in the sheds as France joined the party.
Arthur Morgue fashioned a try, gathering his own deflected kick and Eloi Pellissier burrowed in from dummy half to drag the scoreline back to 18-12.
Whatever Wane said at half time, it worked. England roared back out of the traps with tries from Elliott Whitehead, rebuilding his Canberra connection with Bateman, who snaked across the line before putting his fellow backrower through with a pass that had more than a hint of forward about it.
Radley was next in, pouncing on a kick from debutant hooker Andy Ackers, before Young – already a crowd favourite – wound the clock back to last week by scoring from a Jack Welsby pass, then took an interception to go the length.
Arthur Romano added respectability to the scoreline and Samisoni Langi was denied another as France remained defiant – indeed, too defiant, as Pellissier instigated a scuffle that saw Tom Burgess binned. France will need all of that attitude next week against Samoa.
New Zealand overcame the late scratching of Dylan Brown to record a 68-6 win over Jamaica at Hull, with Dallin Watene-Zelezniak scoring four tries.
Brown joined his halves partner Jahrome Hughes on the treatment table, but his absence proved a minor blip for a rampant Kiwis side.
Jamaica did managed their first ever World Cup try – Ben Jones-Bishop scoring late – but this was otherwise an easy night’s work for New Zealand.
Warriors wing Watene-Zelezniak touched down three times in the first half and added another after the break as Michael Maguire’s side stamped their authority on the tournament in front of 6829 fans at the MKM Stadium on Saturday night.
New Zealand had far from impressed in their opening win over Lebanon but dominated this Pool C tie from the off, scoring 13 tries against a side with only four players who have Super League experience.
Jamaica played with plenty of spirit and claimed their first World Cup finals try through the experienced Jones-Bishop with three minutes remaining.
Jamaica showed no sign of nerves as they forced New Zealand into a goal-line dropout from their first attack of the game.
But from their opening attack New Zealand responded with the first try as Watene-Zelezniak dived over in the right corner after five minutes.
Peta Hiku was next on the scoresheet in the same corner after he took a pass from Watene-Zelezniak with 10 minutes on the clock.
Watene-Zelezniak then claimed his second try of the match as he cut in off the wing and evaded two tackles before crossing, with Kieran Foran landing his first kick of the game.
Watene-Zelezniak added his third try with a neat sidestep to evade the cover to put the Kiwis 18-0 ahead after 20 minutes.
A break from halfway by Sebastian Kris set up try number five for the Kiwis as Marata Niukore’s persistence sent him over near the posts and Foran converted after half an hour.
A high floating pass from Briton Nikora set up Kris for another try on the left and Jeremy Marshall-King then claimed a kick from Watene-Zelezniak to touch down and make it 34-0 to the Kiwis at the break.
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad stretched New Zealand’s advantage with the first try of the second half and Watene-Zelezniak was successful with his first kick to make it 40-0.
Nikora stepped in from the left for try number nine and Watene-Zelezniak’s grubber from the right was gathered by Marshall-King for his second score as the Kiwis took their total to the half-century with 25 minutes left.
Watene-Zelezniak just managed to stay in touch for his fourth try, although he was injured in the process and left the field. Foran returned to kicking duties with his fourth conversion as the Kiwis led 56-0.
Brandon Smith stretched out of the tackle for New Zealand’s 12th try with 13 minutes left to play and added another as Jamaica could not keep him out following a determined run.
Jones-Bishop made his own bit of history with his country’s first-ever World Cup finals try near the end as he gathered the loose ball to score and Kieran Rush added the extras.
Fiji ran in 10 tries in a 60-4 hammering of Italy to take a big step towards the Rugby League World Cup quarter-finals.
The Pacific Islanders were in complete control of the contest at Kingston Park, Newcastle, on Saturday afternoon with Parramatta’s Maika Sivo, Penrith’s Bulldogs-bound Viliame Kikau and Penioni Tagituimua all scoring two tries apiece.
The Bulldogs’ Brandon Wakeham was also on target seven times with the boot, with Italy’s only try coming from their Australian winger Jake Maizen, a hat-trick scorer in the opening match, when Fiji were already 48 points ahead.
Kikau opened the scoring for Fiji with a try in the ninth minute, and they opened up a 30-0 lead at halftime.
Kevin Naiqama, Apisai Koroisau, Ben Nakubuwai and Taniela Sadrugu all crossed once.
Fiji had been well beaten by Australia in their opening game in group B but they’re now in pole position to clinch the second quarter-final spot.
If Fiji win their final match against Scotland next Saturday, Italy would have to achieve the wholly unlikely feat of beating Australia to have a chance of overhauling them.
With AAP
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