KAI PEARCE-PAUL believes the England team can be proud of their efforts at the World Cup in Australia, despite being out of the tournament.
Brian McDermott’s side were able to claim a 34-12 victory over Papua New Guinea in their closing group game, but it wasn’t the points total they had hoped for to keep themselves truly alive, with Samoa losing by only two points to Tonga on Sunday, meaning that both South Pacific nations will now play in this week’s semi-finals.
New Zealand will play Tonga on Saturday (9.05am GMT) at McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle, while Australia will face Samoa on Sunday (9.05am GMT) at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium.
Pearce-Paul admits he has enjoyed being part of the national team once again, although it was challenging heading into games requiring pre-determined margins of victory.
“You’ve always got to be happy with a win, but we knew we had to chase as many points as we could,” the Wests Tigers man said.
“I’m still proud of the boys regardless – we played well, and PNG were tough; they were really physical.
“Against France there wasn’t a limit, and we played a bit more freely because we weren’t chasing anything specifically, but we went into this game knowing we had to score lots of points.
“At times we perhaps chased it too hard, but that’s just the game.
“PNG came out flying in the second half, you could see their energy. One dropped ball and they were flying in, celebrating. It worked for them in the end.”
Pearce-Paul would like to see change to the World Cup heading into the next tournament, with England’s opening game defeat to Tonga in Perth immediately putting them on the back foot.
“It’s a different structure to what we’re used to,” he added.
“I don’t think it’s fair that you lose one game when you’re a bit rusty and that decides your fate, so it’d be nice to see something different.
“I’ve loved every minute of this camp, we’ve been a real tight team, and have done everything together, so it’ll be sad to say goodbye to the boys.”
