SLICK and superb in the first half, ENGLAND continued their World Cup march, this time reaching the semi-finals, with a magical first 30 minutes against Papua New Guinea in Saturday’s quarter-final at Wigan.
In front of a record last-eight crowd of 23,179 at the DW Stadium, which included the Princess of Wales, the hosts followed up their three group wins against Samoa, France and Greece with a 46-6 triumph, which included seven tries in the first half hour.
Despite incessant rain, Shaun Wane’s men were ruthless early on.
And when it was all over, with England adding another nine tries to the 34 they posted in their group games, coach Shaun Wane revealed that his initial two-year deal had been extended by 12 months.
This match, though, belonged to St Helens and England’s Tommy Makinson who scored five tries - an international record for England – from the left-wing position and also kicked five goals to finish with 30 points.
Other try scorers were Tom Burgess, who was magnificent early on, Dom Young, George Williams and Kallum Watkins.
New Zealand beat Fiji 24-18 and Samoa beat Tonga 20-18 in two superb quarter-finals to set up a semi-final line-up like this:
Friday: Australia v New Zealand at Elland Road, Leeds.
Saturday: England v Samoa at the Emirates Stadium, London.
