Kiwi comeback stuns England

Manu Vatuvei grabbed four tries as New Zealand scored 22 unanswered points in the second half to beat 'Super Pool' rivals England 36-24.

In a likely dress rehearsal for next weekend's World Cup semi-final, Tony Smith's side surrendered a 16-point advantage in Newcastle.

Just as they had done against Australia six days earlier in their Melbourne mauling, England wilted in the second half, failing to score a single point.

They also once again looked leaky in defence, shipping in another seven tries to leave their points difference at the end of the Pool stages at -50.

Another chance

Provided the Kangaroos remain perfect by beating Papua New Guinea on Sunday, England - whose only win so far has come against the Kumuls - will get another chance to put things right.

Stopping Vatuvei will be one of the major priorities if they do meet the Kiwis after the man-mountain helped his team recover from a sluggish start.

The winger opened his side's account on 14 minutes with his first easy run-in of the night, a feat he repeated another three times after the interval.

Yet it had all started so well for a much-changed England team. The impressive Mickey Higham darted over from dummy half and then Rob Burrow bagged the first of his brace to make it 12-0 inside 10 minutes.

Even though Vatuvei replied for the Kiwis, Martin Gleeson, starting at stand-off in the absence of Leon Pryce and Danny McGuire, was carried over by two tacklers to get a third English try.

Lance Hohaia replied but Burrow's second, coming when he caught the defence cold by running on the last tackle as they waited for the kick, was converted by loose forward Rob Purdham to make it 24-8.

That conversion came just before the half hour. From then on all the scoring was done by the men in black, and Vatuvei in particular.

Warning sign

Jason Nightingale's excellent finish in the right corner just before half time was a warning sign of what was to come in a one-sided second half.

England's cause was not helped by an injury to full-back Paul Wellens, his absence forcing a switch in the backs that saw Paul Sykes thrust out into the unfamiliar position of the right wing.

Twice the Bradford player was caught in the wrong position to allow Vatuvei to canter in, to become just the second New Zealander to score a hat-trick against a British team.

Isaac Luke added the second conversion attempt to level the scores and it was his slightly theatrical fall, when elbowed out of the way under a high kick by Kevin Sinfield, that resulted in the Kiwis finally taking the lead with a 70th minute penalty.

Nathan Fein then defied a broken nose to pick up a loose ball and dive over to seal the match, before that man Vatuvei had the last word.

The New Zealand Warrior's fourth try rounded out another miserable 80 minutes for England, who once again have been left with more questions than answers as their cup dreams look in danger of ending up in a nightmare finish.