England have booked their place in the Rugby League World Cup semi-finals.
They do so through a brilliant display against Papua New Guinea.
The first half an hour from England was practically flawless as they led 38-0. The second half was a little sloppy from both teams but England edged that 8-6 to round off a 46-6 win over the Kumuls at Wigan Warriors’ DW Stadium to book their place in the last four.
It was a special day for Tommy Makinson as he ran in a record breaking five tries as well as notching five goals.
The other tries went to NRL duo Tom Burgess and Dom Young, whilst Warrington Wolves’ George Williams and Salford Red Devils’ Kallum Watkins also crossed for deserved tries.
The win sets up a clash at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium next week in the final four as England take on the winner of Samoa vs Tonga tomorrow at the Halliwell Jones in one of the biggest and most anticipated World Cup quarter-finals ever as two potential winners full of star names collide.
But what will Shaun Wane’s approach to this game be. On BBC, he revealed what he will be doing when the game comes around tomorrow afternoon: “I’m going to the game, I hope they rip into each other and we’ll see them next week. We know we’ve got a massive challenge, they’re both great teams Samoa and Tonga but so are Papua New Guinea so we’ll show them the respect they deserve and try our best and give it our best shot.”
So Wane will be there as he hopes the two not seven bells out of each other as he assesses his semi-final opponents but he believes the win over PNG shows England can rise to the challenge.
The game kicks off at 14:30 and BBC Two will cover the game from 14:00.