THIS IS ENGLAND. WE EXPECT.
ENGLAND RUGBY LEAGUE: ALL THE RLWC08 ACTION ON LEEDSRHINOS.BIZ
England 32
Tries: Gardner (2), Smith (3), Gleeson
Goals: Sinfield (4)
Papua New Guinea 22
Tries: Griffin, Chan, Kepa, Alten
Goals: Wilshire (3)
England secured two points in the opening game of the 2008 Rugby League World Cup to come back from a 16-12 half time score, against a surprisingly good PNG in Townsville.
To say that the English were shocked at half time was an understatement; perhaps it wasn’t just the fans that were underestimating PNG. Rod Griffin, Jason Chan and George Kepa scored for PNG in the first half, with Stanley Gene involved, at some part, in most of those.
PNG fatigued in the first quarter of the second half, allowing England to hit back. Leeds Rhinos’ Lee Smith was the hat-trick hero for England, with Ade Gardner scoring two on the other wing. Martin Gleeson also scored one.
It was a great start to the RLWC08: Those two points probably mean that England will make it past the group stage of the competition. If every game is going to be like this, boy, what a World Cup this will be!
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