England Wheelchair have secured their place in the Rugby League World Cup Semi-Finals with an emphatic victory over USA.
After defeating Wales in the opening round, England delivered another dominant display in Round 2, keeping their American opponents scoreless.
Despite resting Rob Hawkins, their 11-try hero from Round 1, England ran in 23 tries through eight different scorers.
Tristan Norfolk opened the scoring just 33 seconds after the whistle, setting the tone for a relentless England performance.
Norfolk crossed again in the 20th minute with a powerful finish that brought the posts down.
Ten first-half tries gave England a commanding 58-0 lead at the break.
England maintained their momentum in the second half, adding another 13 tries to their tally to finish the game 134-0.
With points shared across the 10-man squad, there were plenty of contenders for Player of the Match. The award went to goalkicker Finlay O’Neill, who landed 15 conversions from 16 attempts and scored two tries of his own.
“It was quite surprising, but I’m really pleased,” said O’Neill on the award.
“But it’s not just me it’s the entire team, I think it was a quite good team performance.
“Tom [Coyd] set out what he wanted me to try and do in today’s game and I felt like I did that quite well.
“Looking forward, it shows what I need to try and work on and improve on.
England next face Ireland on Friday (6 November, KO 6am) in their final group-stage fixture before the Semi-Finals.
Ireland’s line-up will feature several familiar faces, particularly for England’s Halifax Panthers players, adding an extra edge to the encounter, as O’Neill explained:
“We start off on a personal note with a couple of the ‘Fax lads, there’s that bit of bad blood.
“Jack’s [Brown] got his brother so there’s that competition but luckily we see him week in week out and I’m very confident we’ll do the job.”
Watch England v Ireland live on Friday 6 November with a Premier Sports Subscription (KO 6am GMT).
