England battle back for victory
October 25, 2008

WINGER Lee Smith scored a hat trick on debut to help England to a 32-22 win over Papua New Guinea in the opening World Cup game at Dairy Farmers Stadium.

England were headed towards an embarrassing first up defeat to the Kumuls when they trailed 16-12 at half-time but rallied with four tries to one in the final 40 minutes to secure the victory.

World Cup contenders England were expected to make easy work of the underdog Kumuls, but they were made to fight all the way before securing the win.

Smith scored in the 29th minute and again just 11 minutes after half time as England drew level at 16-all.

The Leeds flyer completed his hat trick on debut in the 73rd minute as the Lions eventually cruised home to take the Pool A encounter.

Fellow winger Ade Gardner also got amongst the tries to score twice while centre Martin Gleeson was England's other tryscorer in the six tries to four win.

Despite the loss PNG will be buoyed by their opening effort having really threatened one of the top rated teams in the tournament.

Rod Griffin levelled scores 6-all in the 20th minute before late first half tries to Jason Chan and George Keppa, in the final seconds of the half, gave the Kumuls an unlikely four point lead at the break.

But the Kumuls were unable to keep up the intensity in the second half, with Penrith hooker Paul Aiton ending the English domination by scoring a consolation try in the 75th minute.

Smith, 22, was happy with his first Test but said England had left plenty of room for improvement.

“It was personally satisfying but the team, we've got a bit to work on,'' Lee told Britain's Sky Sports.

“They came out tough but in the last 20 minutes we did all right.''

England coach Tony Smith said the close match will help his side later in the tournament.

“It will probably do us a world of good rather than a soft game, though we knew it wouldn't be a soft game,'' he said.

“We put a bit of pressure on ourselves not having enough composure in the first half. There are some lessons learned.''

PNG coach Adrian Lam criticised several decisions by referee Shayne Hayne, including a disallowed try for a forward pass while leading 16-12 early in the second half.

“That was devastating. It would have put us 10 points ahead if we had got the conversion as well,'' he said.

“That was a real hurt but we hung in there. A couple more decisions going our way and it's game on.''

But an emotional Lam was still confident his team could cause an upset over the Kangaroos or Kiwis in the coming weeks.

“Tonight we showed we are a young, courageous and spirited side and I couldn't be prouder of the way the guys played,'' Lam said.

“Tonight was a little bit about getting some respect back from the world of rugby league.

“We've obviously got a big task against New Zealand next week, and to be honest the last four weeks we have been planning to play and beat England.

“We entered the game truly believing we could win it and if we had a few of the 50-50 calls go our way who knows what could have happened.''

However, further souring the narrow defeat, PNG local Jesse Joe Parker was taken to hospital with a fractured eye socket in the first half and is unlikely to play again in the tournament.

England's win means they take the early lead in the pool ahead of the heavyweight clash between Australia and New Zealand at the Sydney Football Stadium.

However the Lions will need a huge improvement on the effort if they are to threaten Australia in their next game at Melbourne's Telstra Dome next Sunday.

The Kumuls meanwhile head to the Gold Coast to face the Kiwis at Skilled Stadium next Saturday.