JON Wilkin has said he is ‘scared’ and ‘worried’ for England in their World Cup clash against Papua New Guinea on Saturday afternoon.
Shaun Wane’s men take on the Kumuls having finished top of their group, but have faced France and Greece in the past two weeks – something which Wilkin feels could come back to haunt them in terms of momentum.
“The win over Greece was expected, but England face Papua New Guinea in the quarter-final and that is a different proposition,” Wilkin said.
“They have had a few down weeks have Egnland and now they have to get back up to a level that they haven’t had to get back up to since the first week of the tournament.
“England and Papua New Guinea is a tricky one for me, it scares me thinking about it. It worries me that they haven’t played at that level since round one.
“You can dine out on how good you were three weeks ago but that has a habit of biting you on or backside as you just can’t rely on that for evidence.”
It remains to be seen what team Wane goes with against PNG, but Sam Tomkins and Michael McIlorum are expected to return at fullback and hooker respectively.
