England 46-6 Papua New Guinea Highlights and talking points: Two stars prove world class as St Helens man grabs headlines

A blistering, perhaps perfect, first 40 minutes from England saw Shaun Wane’s blow Papua New Guinea away as they looked like potential World Cup winners.

Granted they were less than perfect in the second half but they can now look ahead to a semi-final clash in London next week.

Highlights:

Brilliant Burgess
Tom Burgess has been brilliant all tournament and he gave Papua New Guinea a few warning shots with some late footwork seeing him break through the Kumuls’ defence. Then a few minutes later he powered his way over for a deserved try.

Magic Makinson
In the first set of the game, Tommy Makinson nearly scored from a lovely kick claiming a high kick only for scramble defence to deny him. But a few minutes later it was a Sam Tomkins grubber kick whick saw Makinson scoop the ball up and score.

Cloud nine for Young
Josh Addo-Carr took his tournament tally to 11 last night as he devastated Lebanon but England’s star isn’t far behind and he scored his ninth of the tournament again coming from a kick as Williams’ floated kick was batted back and the ball was shuffled out wide where Young was waiting to score.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 A dream start for England.

Sliding into an early lead with three consecutive tries, tune in on BBC One. #RLWC2021 | @England_RL | @BBCSport | #ENGPNG pic.twitter.com/BXDefsIP1S

— Rugby League World Cup 2021 (@RLWC2021) November 5, 2022

A point per minute
As the game ticked into its 18th minute, England registered their 18th point. Another try from a kick this one from Williams with Makinson out jumping Rodrick Tai and powering over.

Slip and slide
If anyone wants to question John Bateman’s quality or why Wests Tigers want him, they need only look at this try as he typically grabbed back inside bursting through the middle and great support play by Kallum Watkins and scorer George Williams saw the latter slide over for a try that on a dry day would have seen an excellent move end in disappointment.

Red hot Radley
Victor Radley was the beating heart of England’s early domination and he was at the centre of England’s sixth try as they made it 32 points inside 25 minutes. The move started with one centre as Herbie Farnworth broke through. Then a tackle later Radley’s long ball gave Young space to bust down the wing offloading to Watkins to score.

🔥 There's no stopping England right now.

Is this the best try of the first half? #RLWC2021 | @England_RL | @BBCSport | #ENGPNG pic.twitter.com/FGA7r1Eenb

— Rugby League World Cup 2021 (@RLWC2021) November 5, 2022

Captain’s challenge leads to Makinson hat-trick
We saw just how effective a captain’s challenge can be when Liam Moore had judged that Alex Johnston had defused a Sam Tomkins kick. However, he in fact dropped it allowing Makinson to ground and the try to be given courtesy of a captain’s challenge.

McMeeken power
We saw the power Mike McMeeken brings to England when he swatted away a defender like they weren’t there as he set up a try for Tommy Makinson.

🙌 That's 4 tries in the bag for Tommy Makinson.

He's on another level this afternoon. #RLWC2021 | @England_RL | @BBCSport | #ENGPNG pic.twitter.com/tndRtJ9iYh

— Rugby League World Cup 2021 (@RLWC2021) November 5, 2022

Nice moment Jimmy Ngultik
After scoring a lovely brace last week against Wales, the young winger got a quarter-final try grounding a grubber from Alex Johnston.

Williams cut out pass leads to history for Makinson
An absolutely outstanding cut out pass from George Williams opened up enough space for Tommy Makinson to dive in for a record-breaking fifth try.

Talking Points:

Kicking game on point
When in the NRL, George Williams was widely regarded as having one of the best short kicking games in the world and he showed it today. On the back of an outstanding pack, he helped pin Papua New Guinea in their own half in the first half and if his kicks weren’t designed to generate more pressure, they were leading to tries. A useful weapon for semi-finals and finals.

Outstanding Radley
In Victor Radley, England have a secret weapon. Like the rest of the pack he powered through the middle of Papua New Guinea but when it called for it with the Kumuls sucked in, he fed the ball outwide as England devastated PNG.

Brilliant Burgess
Like Radley, Burgess seemed World Class today in an England shirt. Unstoppable using a bit of footwork close to the line to bust through and scored a deserved try. Against the big packs of their potential semi-final opponents, he will be key.

Sloppy second-half
After half an hour, England led 38-0 but after this the conditions and perhaps a tendency to overplay crept in to make the rest of the game a bit of a sloppy affair from both teams. Not ideal prep for the semi-finals.

Defensive brilliance
Yes the attack was sloppy in the second half but the defence continued to shine with brilliant linespeed making it tough for PNG to even exploit the sloppiness from England.