England face Papua New Guinea with World Cup semi-final hopes on line

Summarised from Hull Daily Mail's report · Updated 28 Oct, 07:02 · Archive

England must beat Papua New Guinea on Friday and rely on other results to reach the World Cup semi-final.

England face Papua New Guinea on Friday in a World Cup match where victory alone will not secure their semi-final place. They need a big win and must also rely on Tonga beating Samoa 48 hours later to stand a chance of reaching the last four. England have already reignited their campaign with an emphatic 82-0 demolition of France in week two.

Former England half-back Kevin Brown has warned of the physical threat posed by Papua New Guinea. Brown was knocked out and forced off in both his meetings with PNG, in 2010 and 2017. He recalled Brian Smith showing a clip of Australia's Darren Lockyer being 'wiped out' along with three other players in a tackle, saying that was the intensity to expect. Brown suffered a similar concussion in the 2017 World Cup quarter-final against PNG and needed a team-mate's intervention to ensure he was removed from the field after a technology failure.

Read the report

• Kevin Brown’s brutal Papua New Guinea experiences offer England a World Cup warningKevin Brown has had two brutal experiences with Papua New Guinea on the international stage!Hull Daily Mail · 28 Oct, 05:01

In this story: England · Papua New Guinea · Kevin Brown · Brian McDermott · Tonga · Samoa · France

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