England provide emotional tribute for tragic Prescott

They face the losers of tonight’s final Group B match between France and Samoa in the last eight at Wigan on Saturday evening.

France have one win to their name after edging past Papua new Guinea 9-8 and they do have home advantage in Perpignan.

Samoa emphatically defeated the Kumuls 38-4 but are ravaged by injury problems.

McNamara, who saw his side finish as Group A runners-up with Saturday’s 34-12 win over Fiji at the Kingston Communications Stadium, said: “I’ve got no prediction at all.

“I honestly don’t know which way that game will go.

“We’ve got to prepare ourselves. We know where we’re playing and what time.

“Come late Monday night, we’ll know who we’re playing and we can do a bit more groundwork, but some of the people who work for us have already got lots of information on both of those teams.”

McNamara has opted against flying out to watch England’s quarter-final opponents in person.

“(RFL chief executive) Nigel (Wood) won’t pay for me to go, it’s beyond the budget,” he smiled.

“The benefits of going there and watching that game live, compared to being with our own group, it’s not worth it.

“We’ll get the coverage from TV and crack on from there.”

England were held 6-6 at half-time against Fiji following a brutal first period in Hull.

They produced a blistering spell of five tries in just 15 minutes after the restart, though, to take control.

The coach admitted it had been an emotional day after the squad found out beforehand about the death of former Hull FC, St Helens and England full-back Steve Prescott at the age of 39.

Prescott – a former team-mate of McNamara’s at Wakefield Trinity – was given just months to live when diagnosed with a rare form of stomach cancer in 2006.

But, remarkably, he battled on, raising thousands of pounds for charity with a series of gruelling physical challenges and was awarded an MBE in 2009.

A minute’s silence ahead of the Fiji turned into a fitting minute’s applause.

“Steve came and presented our jerseys before the mid-season game against the Exiles,” said McNamara.

“He wasn’t in great shape then. He’d been told he couldn’t eat or drink again but he dragged himself there and gave a speech to the players which still rings true now.

“He spoke about how your body will do what your mind tells you to do.

“For someone who was given months to live, to do what he did over six years is pretty super-human and a very strong message to myself and the rest of the group.

“He was a really close friend 
and someone we all admired. We all talk about the feats he achieved since he got his illness, but I also like to remember him 
as a fantastic rugby league player.

“When you put the qualities he has got – both as a player and a human being – together it is a really sad loss for everybody who knows him but especially his immediate family, his wife Linzi and his children and his parents in particular. Our best wishes to all of them.”