ENGLAND 134 USA 0
IAN GOLDEN, WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong, Tuesday
IN the first wheelchair meeting between the two nations, an experimental England side cruised through to the semi-finals.
It was the most points and largest win margin for England in the World Cup, but they fell just one point short of their best ever win (136-1 v Scotland in 2019).
It only took 40 seconds for Tristan Norfolk to register England’s first try, with Finlay O’Neill kicking the first of his 15 goals.
The half-century was surpassed on 33 minutes thanks to an O’Neill try making it 52-0, before he missed a kick for the first time in the match.
Norfolk had quickly grabbed two more tries while Luis Domingos, Chris Haynes and Mason Billington all got first-half braces.
With the score at 58-0, O’Neill took just over two second-half minutes to score his second try before Jabrier Lee was twice denied in USA’s best spell.
The remainder of the game was England’s. Billington added another two quick tries with Jack Brown scoring straight off the bench in between.
Haynes and substitutes Lewis King and Joe Coyd added further tries and Coyd converted his own try to bring up the century.
Domingos (two), Coyd, Brown (two) and Haynes added further tries to complete the rout, with Coyd adding five more goals.
ENGLAND: 1 Finlay O’Neill, 2 Luis Domingos, 3 Tristan Norfolk, 4 Chris Haynes, 5 Mason Billington. Subs (all used): 6 Joe Coyd, 7 Lewis King, 8 Jack Brown
Tries: Norfolk (1, 10, 20), Domingos (4, 23, 68, 77), Haynes (14, 18, 58, 75), Billington (31, 40, 48, 54), O’Neill (33, 43), Brown (52, 72, 79), King (61), Coyd (64, 70); Goals: O’Neill 15/16, Coyd 6/7
USA: 12 Antoine Gray, 5 Jesse Lind, 8 Brent Hawkins, 3 Jabrier Lee, 11 Andy Kingsley. Subs (all used): 6 Eric Wooten, 4 Freddie Smith, 10 Bill Johnstone
SCORING SEQUENCE: 6-0, 12-0, 18-0, 24-0, 30-0, 36-0, 42-0, 48-0, 52-0, 58-0; 64-0, 70-0, 76-0, 82-0, 88-0, 94-0, 100-0, 106-0, 112-0, 118-0, 122-0, 128-0, 134-0
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Players of the Match
England: Finlay O’Neill, USA: Jabrier Lee
Penalty count: 7-3; Half-time: 58-0; Referees: Ollie Cruickshank and Steve Hewson; Attendance: 838
