McDermott: England face 'unique task' to progress and can't get distracted
Brian McDermott has warned his England side not to chase the points as they look to keep their slim Rugby League World Cup hopes alive with a big win against Papua New Guinea.
England head coach Brian McDermott speaks to the media on Thursday, as his side seek to avoid historic Rugby League World Cup pool stage exit; England face Papua New Guinea in their final pool fixture on Friday (9.05am kick-off), knowing they need a big win to keep semi-final hopes alive
Brian McDermott has warned his England side not to chase the points as they look to keep their slim Rugby League World Cup hopes alive with a big win against Papua New Guinea.
England are up against it in their bid to make it through to the semi-finals after they lost 30-12 to Tonga in their opening game.
They must beat Papua New Guinea in their final pool game in Woollongong on Friday and then wait until Sunday, when they need Tonga to beat Samoa, upon whom England must also make up a 68-point deficit.
That means tries will be the order of the day against Papua New Guinea but McDermott, who saw his side beat France 82-0 in their second game , has called for patience.
"We've got a specific task this weekend. I think it'll be a stiffer test than it was against France," McDermott said at his Thursday press conference.
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"We once again find ourselves in another similar situation, very unique as well, that we don't just need to beat them, we need to be beat them convincingly.
"If we're going to go through, we need to score the points, but we can't get to the points first.
"We've got to get to the physicality first and we're going to manage a very physical team, a very dominant team.
"There's a discipline in that we don't start looking for things or searching for things outside of how we want to play.
"That was really impressive against France because we knew we had points in us and they weren't coming in that first 20 [minutes]. We didn't try to do anything different.
"Every team, and I've been involved in so many teams, where you're winning by a large margin and you either take your foot off the gas because we think it's job done or you start to overplay.
"But against France we stuck to the game model and just put it on rinse and repeat."
While England made hay against the French in Perth, McDermott knows Papua New Guinea represent a tougher task.
"They're well coached by Jason Demetriou, who's got a chunk of players who are playing in the British game as well," he said.
Quite simply, before Tonga face Samoa, England must beat Papua New Guinea and do it by a considerable margin.
Samoa's thumping 78-4 win over France in their tournament opener and a 64-6 victory over Papua New Guinea on Saturday leaves them with an impressive +132 point difference.
England beating France takes them to a +64 points difference, 68 points behind Samoa heading into the final round of fixtures. Another win Friday would lift them to four points and level with both Samoa and Tonga.
McDermott's side would then be left to wait 48 hours for the outcome of Tonga vs Samoa in Sydney. A Samoa win would guarantee England's elimination, while a Tonga victory would see the points difference decide second spot.
England don't necessarily need to beat Papua New Guinea by 68 points or more, but a victory by that margin would mean any loss for Samoa would be enough to progress.
A smaller England win would see them need Samoa to lose by a bigger score, depending on England's final points difference.
The winner of the combined Groups B+C table would progress to the semi-finals to face the runner-up of Group A, a four-team league consisting of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and the Cook Islands.
