England (24) 34

Tries: Ashton, Brimson, Young, Smith, Knowles, Lewis

Goals: Savala 5, Smith

Papua New Guinea (0) 12

Tries: Dotoi, Voro

Goals: Martin 2

England edged towards a World Cup exit after their points chase against Papua New Guinea descended into a chaotic and error-strewn victory that will almost certainly prove insufficient in the final reckoning.

Since their opening loss to Tonga, England’s objective had been simple in their two remaining group games. Win and win well to have any hope of the reaching the last four.

They achieved that objective against France with a crushing 82-0 triumph and looked on course to make significant inroads into the 68-point deficit they needed to make up on Samoa when they led 22-0 after 22 minutes, courtesy of tries from Matty Ashton, AJ Brimson, Dominic Young and Harry Smith.

However, things went badly wrong from there on despite head coach Brian McDermott urging his players to be patient in the build-up to this fixture.

A combination of repeatedly coughing up possession and conceding penalties restored belief in the Papua New Guinea ranks and Dudley Dotoi and Gairo Voro cashed in with tries for the Kumuls as England threw away the initiative.

The sight of England centre Herbie Farnworth being stripped of the ball running towards the try line moments before Mikey Lewis added another try to Morgan Knowles’ second-half effort aptly summed up how things had slipped away.

England were guilty of making 21 errors and delivered a performance that included just a 57% completion rate, hardly good enough at this – or any – level.

It was the total opposite of the blueprint from the France game and it means England can now only reach the last four if Tonga defeat Samoa by more than 46 points.

As good as Kristian Woolf’s side are, that appears highly improbable given they lost 34-6 to Samoa 12 months ago in Brisbane and have not registered a win over their neighbours since 2018.

Across the 80 minutes, there was only one real England candidate for player of the match.

AJ Brimson was everywhere – popping up in attack to provide an extra option, and in defence where he made a string of crucial tackles.

His metres gained stats were impressive as per usual – and as he has done in each England game at this World Cup, he also provided a touch of flair.

On a night when England were left with thoughts of what might have been, Brimson gave a sign of what could be. Let’s hope he stays in their plans.