League: Erratic England spared wooden spoon shame

James Roby of England tackles Makali Aizue of Papua New Guinea during the Four Nations match. Photo / Getty Images

The English players will be glad it's all over and some, like Luke Robinson, can get to more important things like getting married.

It has not been a good Four Nations tournament for Steve McNamara's side but they at least escaped the ignominy of finishing the competition on the bottom of the table. That would really have been something to stew over.

They were never going to lose last night. They might have been pushed by Papua New Guinea at the 2008 World Cup, before a fortuitous refereeing decision and a late rally spared their blushes in a 32-22 win, but PNG league has imploded since then, with former coach Adrian Lam walking out on the side on the eve of the Four Nations. A look through their line-up generally draws glazed stares, such is the absence of recognisable names.

England won last night on the back of three tries in 10 first-half minutes, but they were hardly convincing. In truth, they were a shambles in the opening 10 minutes.

They ended their first set with a skewed midfield bomb from back-rower Sean O'Loughlin, their second set ended with a bomb over the dead ball line and they continued to hand over possession with passing you would more usually expect to see at local park level.

As much as the England players said they were 100 per cent committed to the game, it must have been hard for them to get themselves up for a wooden spoon encounter like this.

It took them 16 minutes to find the tryline, when Robinson jinked his way through to touch down to boos of the ever-increasing crowd, but they settled from there. They scored five tries in the opening half, with centre Tony Clubb grabbing a hat-trick, and must have thought they would run away with it.

Clubb's first was the best. James Graham was handed the ball from the kickoff close to his line, flung a good ball wide to winger Tom Briscoe, who outflanked his marker and then dished the ball to Clubb to score a minute after Robinson's opening try.

But they were poor again in the second spell and won that half by the narrow margin of 12-10 against an average Kumuls outfit, who offered little more than a few big hits and continued enthusiasm.

Papua New Guinea scored tries to prop Makali Aizue and centre Emmanuel Vere, much to the delight of the crowd, who even started up a 'PNG, PNG' chant, but they have been largely out of their depth this whole Four Nations.

They deserved to take their place in the tournament, winning last year's Pacific Cup but, like Lam, a number of their better players like David Meads, Neville Costigan and Keith Peters opted out of playing and Stanley Gene, the new coach, had already retired.

It was a shame because it meant there was one gimme match for the top three teams and England's tournament was effectively over when they were beaten 24-10 by the Kiwis in the tournament opener in Wellington.

International rugby league needs to stick with their Four Nations concept. Wales will take the fourth spot in next year's edition in the UK after they beat France in the final of the European Cup.

England will surely be better on home soil next year. They played in last year's final after beating the Kiwis and surely won't be as poor as they have been in this time around..

The game ended with Kevin Brown kicking the ball out over the sideline on the full. It rather summed up their tournament.

England 36 (T. Clubb 4, L. Robinson 2, B. Harrison tries; B. Westwood 4 gls)

Papua New Guinea 10 (M Aizue, E. Vere tries; A. Aiye gl)

Halftime: 24-0.