England 34 France 6: Battle of widemen will be key to England’s hopes of final spot

Here, Ryan Hall strengthened his hold on the tournament’s title of top try-scorer with another brace against France to take his tally to eight.

Josh Charnley, the Wigan Warriors winger recalled for the first time since the Australia opener, contributed twice himself on familiar territory to stretch his season’s tally to an astonishing 45.

The Kiwis – who they play on Saturday at Wembley for a place in the World Cup final – have their own dynamic widemen in the shape of Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, the 20-year-old Sydney Roosters flier who has made more metres than anyone else in the tournament and is second only to Greg Inglis when it comes to breaking tackles.

In the process, he has scored six times, too, and on the left is the giant presence of Matu Vatuvei, a modern-day Jonah Lomu who prefers to run over than around opponents. It would be no surprise if Steve McNamara switched the bulkier Hall to the right flank to contend with that looming threat next weekend.

The England coach’s most pressing concern, however, is ensuring his side are in the semi-final long enough to even compete.

Frustratingly, as has been their problem all tournament, they flourished only for a limited period against the French.

Admittedly, they were excellent in that 17-minute spell during the first half when Hall and Charnley inflicted such carnage but, thereafter, they were disjointed with handling errors becoming more prevalent and no sustained pressure built.

The excellent Sean O’Loughlin powered over early in the second half but it was another half-hour before Brett Ferres, the Huddersfield Giants second-row who was surprisingly dropped to the bench, added his third of the tournament near the end, Kevin Sinfield kicking his fifth conversion.

Such erratic performance levels will not suffice against holders New Zealand when everyone knows the success of their tournament will be determined.

As any good winger will tell you, the genesis of their own productivity is the creativity of those inside them and, with Sam Tomkins and Rangi Chase sucking in hesitant defenders plus skilled centres Leroy Cudjoe and Kallum Watkins on hand, England looked like scoring every time they ventured wide in that purple patch.

In fairness, the French pair of Clint Greenshields – a very good full-back but wasted out wide – and Damien Cardace, whose defensive limitations have been found out on more than one occasion for Catalan Dragons this season, were lambs to the slaughter.

However, those Kiwis, with 34 tries in just four games, will be confident of producing their own massacre.

They will certainly have been encouraged by the manner in which England grew increasingly profligate with the ball.

The hosts had overcome a bitty start when Ben Westwood’s wild fling back of Sinfield’s wayward kick only served to put Olivier Elima on the front foot.

They survived initially but not after three minutes when Sebastien Raguin picked up from dummy half and muscled through some sleeping defence before offloadinig for Vincent Duport to cross.

That was pretty much it, though, for Richard Agar’s side. France have generally disappointed in this tournament – that was only their third try in four games – and they did not veer from that path on Saturday.

They had a couple of caveats, however; Agar had brought in Kane Bentley, of Toulouse, to try and bring some order to France’s ruck play but he was chaired off injured inside the opening minute, Duport following not long after.

They showed plenty of endeavour and, in fairness, had ample territory in the second period.

But a lack of any cutting edge undid all the hard work of tireless forwards like Remi Casty. Scrum-half William Barthau slinging a pass forward and into touch summed up their issues.

For England, as always, O’Loughlin was towering in the middle, producing consistently good work whether it be in defence or attack while James Graham was heavily involved in a lot of their best go-forward

Tomkins, back at Wigan one more time before departing for New Zealand Warriors, could not get the farewell try he desired or, indeed, first of the World Cup.

He did not help his cause by getting sin-binned for the last seven minutes for a foolish professional foul. Ferres had already chased back Cardace after Tomkins had failed to take another loose pass and there was no need for him to lie on.

It was a disappointing end for the full-back who will look for a happier conclusion at Wembley.

McNamara must surely be contemplating bringing back Rob Burrow, too, the Leeds Rhinos hooker omitted despite adding so much zip to their play against Fiji a week earlier.

For all New Zealand have those menacing threats on the wing, hooker Isaac Luke is the heartbeat of their side and Burrow is the nearest thing England have to him.

England: Tomkins; Charnley, Watkins, Cudjoe, Hall; Chase, Sinfield; Graham, McIlorum, Hill, S Burgess, Westwood, O’Loughlin. Substitutes: Roby, G Burgess, Ferres, Farrell.

France: Escare; Cardace, Baile, Duport, Greenshields; Bosc, Barthau; Fakir, K Bentley, Casty, Elima, Raguin, Mounis. Substitutes: Pelissier, Khattabi, Maria, Simon.

Referee: A Klein (Australia).