Rugby League World Cup: England's elimination confirmed after Tonga beat Samoa in the final group match

01.11.2026, 14:12 skysports.com

England's elimination from the World Cup was confirmed after Tonga beat Samoa 20-18 in the final group match.

England sealed a 34-12 victory against Papua New Guinea on Friday but needed to win by a big margin to give themselves a chance of leapfrogging Samoa in Pool B and C and advancing to the semi-finals on points difference.

Brian McDermott's side's hopes rested on Tonga to win by more than 46 points to reach the last four for the seventh successive tournament.

Instead they are on the plane home from Australasia despite winning two of their three matches.

The 30-12 defeat by Tonga in the opening match proved costly, with an 82-0 win over France leaving England with 68 points to make up on Samoa.

They failed to make significant enough inroads in the 32-10 win over Papua New Guinea.

English hopes briefly flickered when Tonga led 8-0, Robert Toia scoring the opening try after a near 50-metre sprint.

With Isaiya Katoa converting and then kicking a penalty, England just needed Tonga to score another 39 unanswered points to stay in the tournament.

However, Brian To'o's try hauled Samoa back to 8-4 down at half-time.

Jojo Fifita put Tonga 14-4 ahead before To'o, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Ronald Volkman edged Samoa into a two-point lead, only for Addin Fonua-Blake to win it for Tonga.

Tonga will play New Zealand in the last four, while Samoa will face Australia in a repeat of the 2022 final.

The new tournament structure, which has been downsized from 16 teams to 10, came after Australia stepped in as hosts following France's withdrawal in 2023 for financial reasons.

It has effectively meant that each group game in Pool B and C has carried more jeopardy than before.

The tournament has two pools, one featuring four teams - Australia, New Zealand, Cook Islands and Fiji - and the other featuring six teams.

England were drawn in the second group, Pool B and C, alongside Tonga, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Lebanon and France.

The top two teams from each group qualify for the knockout rounds, and in the event of a tie, teams are judged on their head-to-head record before points difference.

McDermott's side were beaten in their first match against Tonga which put their hopes of qualifying in the balance, despite later thrashing France by 82 points in round two.

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Sky Sports' Jon Wilkin said: "Australia have done a great job to organise a tournament in such a short space of time, but it was fundamentally flawed, unfair in the extreme to the start.

"The actual competition structure is just diabolical. England were dealt an incredibly difficult task, because they essentially played their quarter-final in week one."

"England knew after their loss against Tonga that it was all going to be about points difference, and [qualifying] was going to be incredibly difficult," Wilkin said. "I think the structure and the setup of the competition was done in short notice.

"I think the International Rugby League, who set up this tournament, have done an incredible job to get it on and actually and get in a position where we can have the tournament.

"So, I commend them for that, but I just think the tournament structure is laughable. Like, no quarter-finals? There's a number of ways you could have manufactured or engineered a quarter-finals situation.

"England should be in the quarter-finals, of the World Cup. They had a disappointing 30-40 minutes against Tonga, and they're out."