England may battle to beat France tonight.
England will be up against it v PNG
I doubt they will get past Tonga if they get through PNG

Australia have not got out of third gear yet and they have a six speed box.

England may battle to beat France tonight.
England will be up against it v PNG
I doubt they will get past Tonga if they get through PNG

Australia have not got out of third gear yet and they have a six speed box.

You will beat PNG easily.
They don't travel well and a Wayne Bennett coached side will play boring, no mistake footy, which is perfect for playing PNG, who will make plenty of mistakes themselves.
You will grind out the win by just holding the ball.

England are not great at hanging on to the ball.
When those PNG missiles come flying in I think England will need to play at their top level to hang on, they have little of anything in attack beyond the Wingers, and they have to see the ball before they can do anything.
PNG have pace and power all over the Park.
They are a lot better than they were in 2008 where they gave England a scare, if the game was played in Moresby my money would have been on PNG

England will beat PNG by 30 and Tonga by 20

I said once the Tongan defectors had made their move that I could see Tonga in the Final and I stand by that. England v Tonga at Mt Smart will be an epic occasion which will see nearly all 30,000 seats occupied by Tongan Supporters......sorry, but I can't see past a Tonga v ANZAC final.....the Kiwis know what they must do now and I'd fancy them to give the Aussies a massive scare.

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Draw bracket from the official RLWC2017 site, which I'm assuming is wrong as this has Eng down to play NZ in the semis if both win through.

I think so.......I always thought that the only time England could meet Australia again was the final!

I think people are overestimating PNG. They've looked good playing in stifling heat and humidity in front of their own fans, but Wales and the US were awful. Ireland, which is basically half a mid-table SL side plus Championship players stood up to them and only just lost in that same environment.

Ireland deserve a bit of credit BTW, they are the only one of the northern hemisphere teams to play above expectations. Wales and Scotland have been largely embarrassingly bad.

I'd counter that and say PNG are miles ahead of where they were 4 years ago and will be a top 6 side again in 2021 in the cold....they will tire against England and lose, but they are far better than last time out

So are England than when they played PNG under Tony Smith. That was probably an all-time low in terms of quality of players in the squad, particularly threequarters. Whilst they have improved, most of the PNG team play Qld Cup, and the Hunters got destroyed by Penrith in the interstate final.

Put it this way, I think Fiji would smash PNG out of sight - they play a similar game but are bigger and faster and Hayne is a better half than any PNG option. Tonga, NZ and Australia would similarly wipe them out. Samoa could too if they played to their strengths in the forwards, and I'd fancy Lebanon as well given the quality of their defence.

I love watching PNG play and their style, and I think they will continue to improve, but they really shouldn't do more than ruffle England a bit. If England play a ruthless professional style they should win by plenty.