England Wheelchair braced for 'dogfight' in World Cup final against old foes France

The Halifax Panthers star bagged five tries as England were ruthless to thrash hosts Australia 86-18 in yesterday’s semi-final, and set-up a final showdown against France in Wollongong.

England are the defending champions having beaten France on home territory four years ago in Manchester.

Hawkins boasted a personal points tally of 30 – five tries, five coversions – as England scored 15 tries against Australia.

Not that Hawkins was getting too excited with the scoreline.

“I wouldn’t say 10 out of 10 yet, we still have a bit to go and a few things to look at,” he said. “We are probably a six or a seven still, so we will peak at the right point on Friday.

“It was satisfying, but it wasn’t easy.

“We had a crowd to fight, but we also had a ruthless Australian team as well. The scoreline doesn’t reflect how difficult it was for us, but we are happy with the result.

“Just because we got that win today, doesn’t mean that we can be excited and have that final guaranteed right now. We are going to have put in a lot of work, a lot of reviews, and a lot of training to make sure we are in that peak condition, so we can be ready to play France on Friday.

“We are not here to defend a World Cup, we are here to win it.

“Realistically, we can’t be thinking it as a final. We know the pressure that we are already going to have, if we put more on, it’s going to make it difficult for ourselves.

“We know what’s at stake. The loser goes home and the winner takes all the glory. We need to keep in our mind that it’s just another game, and we will be ready for it. We have a lot of veterans in this team that have been playing for many years, and some newcomers who for them it’s their first World Cup.

“We knew today that we were going to be in a bit of a dogfight, especially with the crowd, and we can expect that same on Friday as we know the French are quite popular out here.”

Mason Billington scored a first-half hat-trick as the defending champions opened up a 40-6 half-time advantage.

Hawkins and Joe Coyd also crossed twice before the break, Diab Karim replying with a converted try for Australia.

Halifax Panthers’ Jack Brown struck twice early in the second half to extend England’s lead to 52-6, before Leeds Rhinos’ Nathan Collins crossed for a try. Collins also added eight goals.

Two tries in five minutes from Hawkins increased England’s advantage, Karim responding with a second Australian try.

Hawkins bagged his fifth try of the contest, Australia’s Dan Anstey replied with a well-worked try, before touchdowns from Sheffield Eagles’ Chris Haynes and Lewis King capped off a superb England win.

Collins said: “As much as it looks like a good game (against Australia) we still have plenty to improve on.

“Friday is another game of rugby, that’s the hat you have to put on. You have to do your job, if you overthink it, it can get to you.

"We are used to big games, league titles and Challenge Cups. This is a step up from that, so we go again."

Born with dwarfism, Collins played running rugby league as a youngster before switching to the wheelchair sport, making his England debut aged 16.

Friday will be the 26-year-old's third World Cup final.

“It’s given me another lease of life, after I got told to stop playing the running game,” he said. “I have met so many amazing people.

“At 16, I was thrown in at the deep end and I couldn’t really think about what was going on, I just had to do it. I was blessed to get that opportunity at 16. That’s prepared me for what I am doing today.

“I feel like I have grown with the game.”

Halifax-born Brown – the new wheelchair head coach at Wakefield Trinity – said: “We were just so connected and Tom [Coyd] told us before the game to play without shackles.

“We have had a lot of structure going through this tournament so we’ve got that nailed down.

“Now it’s time to show some individual flair but still back up each other as well.

“We’ve been working all the way through with the aim of peaking in the final. We’ve got a few things still up our sleeve – we’ve got more to give.”

France reached the final after beating Ireland 82-26 in their semi-final.