A flying start

England scored four tries in the first 21 minutes, through Matty Ashton, AJ Brimson, Dom Young and Harry Smith, and led 24-0 at half-time at WIN Stadium, Wollongong, after a Hugo Savala penalty goal. The start kept alive hopes of the huge margin England needed.

A second-half fade

Papua New Guinea hit back through Dudley Dotoi and Gairo Voro, and England's error count, about 20, stopped them building the margin they needed. Morgan Knowles and a late Mikey Lewis try made the final score 34-12, a 22-point winning margin.

The maths

England needed roughly a 68-point swing on Samoa, so only a Tonga win over Samoa by 47 points on Sunday at CommBank Stadium would now take England through, a result the reporting treats as near-impossible. Papua New Guinea's campaign is over either way.

Sources: NRL.com | Rugby League (official)