Brian McDermott has suggested the new Rugby League World Cup format leaves England facing an almost inevitable exit from the tournament, with head-to-head results taking precedence over points difference in the group stages.
England faced Tonga last Saturday and came out of the game 30-12 losers, writes Rant Sport’s Rugby League expert Elliot Ward.
England are in a six-team group with only the top two going through to the semi-finals – with the new format, England’s chances become increasingly more difficult to get to the latter stages.
England would need to win their last two games against France and Papua New Guinea which they are expected to win.
However they will only get through if Tonga beat Samoa which is unlikely, with Samoa being the favourites to win their group, and England win their games by a bigger margin than Samoa.
Against all odds
McDermott said the odds are stacked against his side to progress and their chances to do that are becoming increasingly unlikely.
McDermott told England Rugby League’s official Youtube channel: “The jeopardy of losing one game in a pool of three is so harsh, it’s almost like we don’t get another chance to straighten things out.
“It’s just harsh that we have to take a standing eight count in that first round, but we’re ready to go again.
“Nothing has gone wrong, it’s just a harsh competition in which you’ve got to hit the ground running, which we didn’t do.
“It’s not the easiest thing to do and we end up with situations like this.
“If you lose one game, you don’t really get a chance to fix it. It’s tough because we now need to rely on other results if we are to go through.”
Foundations laid
McDermott added “We’ve come together and looked pretty good. We’ve laid some foundations and we’re pretty excited about where this could go.
“I don’t think there’s a great need for change, just give me another three or four games with this mob. Let’s build some layers of preparation with each other.”
The fans of England and rugby league understand the harshness of the circumstances that England are under.
On the other hand McDermott has come under fire due to his team selection – not taking Jake Connor to the World Cup being the main grievance.
McDermott will be confident heading into the last two group stage matches to get victories over Papua New Guinea and France – but will this be enough to see England in the last four?
READ NEXT: Pundit Gary Neville ‘sick of’ Man Utd being easy to play against – ‘they need to be more solid’
