Sloppy England crash out

Westwood: Knows England's World Cup run is over

skysports.com star man
Benji Marshall
The New Zealand stand-off pulled the strings, crowning a fine performance with a deserved try to seal the Kiwis' place in the final.

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England bowed out of the rugby league World Cup with a disappointing 32-22 semi-final defeat to New Zealand in Brisbane on Saturday.

Tony Smith's side continued their poor form with a string of handling errors -17 in total, but despite gifting the Kiwis three of their six tries, they still had the chance to win entering the final stages of the game.

Danny McGuire scored twice either side of half-time to bring his side to within a score of the New Zealanders, setting up an exciting climax with the score on 28-22 with five minutes left and England with a full set of six.

But as they closed in on the New Zealand line, Rob Purdham knocked-on following a wayward pass to relieve the pressure.

And when Ade Gardner spilled the ball at the other end it was Benji Marshall who was in position to close out the match following Nathan Fien's high kick.

Jamie Peacock and Martin Gleeson scored sweet tries for England but it truth they did not deserve to win, Jerome Ropati (2), Sam Perrett, Lance Hohaia and Bronson Harrison all going over to give the Kiwis an ultimately handsome win.

Attacking

England had the first scoring opportunity on six minutes when Mark Calderwood regathered McGuire's bouncing kick only to be denied by a last-ditch tackle by Simon Mannering.

New Zealand made the most of the let-off and opened the scoring three minutes later when Benji Marshall picked up a loose pass from Nathan Fein.

The Kiwi stand-off drew both Keith Senior and Calderwood before giving winger Sam Perrett a clear run to the line and Jeremy Smith added the conversion to put New Zealand 6-0 ahead.

England thought they had pulled a try back on 15 minutes when Gleeson sent Gardner in at the corner, but video referee Phil Cooley disallowed the try after slow-motion replays showed a foot in touch.

Soon after, New Zealand were given a perfect attacking position when Ben Westwood was penalised for a late and high tackle on Marshall.

And the Kiwis took full advantage, Wigan's Thomas Leuluai opening up the England defence with a dummy before slipping a cut-out pass to put full-back Lance Hohaia through the gap.

The England defence was all at sea again four minutes later when Hohaia's missed pass enabled Ropati to go through a hole for the Kiwis' third try and Smith's second conversion made it 16-0.

Schoolboy errors

Ten minutes before half-time England managed to put their first points on the board, Gareth Ellis feeding Burrow out of a three-man tackle, who sent skipper Jamie Peacock crashing over.

Purdham failed to add the extras but made amends in stoppage time by kicking ahead straight from a scrum 40 metres out for McGuire to chase for the try.

Burrow took over the kicking duties and cut the gap to just six points going into half time.

But England continued the second-half making the same schoolboy errors that had characterised the first.

Within minutes of the restart they found themselves defending their try-line when several players were caught offside after a fluffed kick from Paul Wellens.

Better play from England saw them threatening the Kiwi goal line, Keith Senior and Mickey Higham both with chances around the 50 minute mark.

But New Zealand just kept them out with some desperate defence of their line and the mistakes kept coming.

And when McGuire spilled, handing possession back to New Zealand, the Kiwis once again pressed home the advantage.

A fine run from Nathan Fien and a canny pass to release Bronson Harrison saw the Canberra Raiders second-row glide past a tired-looking Wellens to score under the posts.

Smith hit the conversion to give New Zealand have a 12-point lead.

England answered again on 61 minutes, spinning the ball wide to Gleeson who powered to the line and touched down at full stretch.

Calamitous defence

But seven minutes later and the mistakes were back and, after surviving five tackles, some calamitous defending gifted New Zealand another try.

When Fien's chip kick was dropped by McGuire inside the England try line and Gardner completely missed the loose ball, Ropati flopped on it for the softest of scores.

Marshall added the extras but just five minutes later England were back in the game - McGuire darting to the line and just able to touch the ball down despite a last-ditch tackle.

Burrow slotted the conversion to close the gap back to just six points and set up a nail biting finish, until England confirmed their seats on the earlier flight home with another gift two minutes before the hooter.

When a high kick from Fien was knocked back by Vatuvei to Ropati, McGuire should have cut out the pass.

But instead he knocked the ball straight into the hands of Marshall who touched down to bring England's World Cup challenge to an end.