Sloppy win leaves England needing a miracle

England burst out of the blocks and then stopped to a walk in a 34-12 win over the Kumuls on Friday night that effectively ends the World Cup campaign for both sides.

Starting the night at WIN Stadium needing to overturn a 68-point differential with Samoa, George Williams' men ran in four tries in the first 21 minutes through Matty Ashton, AJ Brimson, Dom Young and Harry Smith to give their fans hope.

The remainder of the first half proved tough going for England as they racked up nine errors and could only find two more points through a Hugo Savala penalty goal in the 40th minute.

Ahead 24-0 at the break and chasing quick points England conceded a try to Dudley Dotoi in the 45th minute when the prolific winger out-jumped Young and crashed over despite a number of defenders hanging off him.

The Kumuls then made it a double strike when livewire five-eighth Gairo Voro exploded through a hole from 10m out and with Rhyse Martin's conversion the score was back to 24-12.

A try to Morgan Knowles in the 69th minute stretched England's margin to 18 points before Mikey Lewis scooted into the left-hand corner in the dying seconds to make the final score 34-12.

On a disappointing night for England it was winger Matty Ashton (161 run metres and five tackle breaks) and centre Herbie Farnworth (13 tackle breaks) who looked the most dangerous but a whopping 20 errors gave them little chance of racking up the big score they needed.

Kumuls legend Martin took his final bow on the international stage with 130 run metres and 37 tackles while Dudley Dotoi busted seven tackles and crossed for a try.

The final margin of 22 points means England need Tonga to beat Samoa by 47 points in Sunday's blockbuster at CommBank Stadium to progress to the semi-finals - a scenario that is simply unimaginable.