England ends French campaign

FRANCE’S World Cup is over after it was beaten by England 36-6 late last night in Perth.

England scored seven tries to one in the comfortable win in front of 14,744 fans at nib Stadium.

England will now play Papua New Guinea in the Cup quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, Australian skipper Cameron Smith has threatened to introduce the wrestle and slow down the play-the-ball during the World Cup finals because of frustrations with the referees.

Smith reiterated comments made by Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga in the wake of Saturday’s group win over Lebanon that the opposition were allowed to lie all over the ruck and slow the game.

“International footy is officiated quite differently to what we’re used to week-to-week in the NRL, we play a faster style of game,” Smith said.

“Last night was one of the slowest games I’ve played in my entire career. Twenty-one penalties — I think that’s the most penalties there’s been in a match I’ve played in. It was frustrating.

“We couldn’t get any fluency at all last night.”

Smith said opposition sides were wise to the fact they could push the limits in the ruck and had successfully slowed down Australia during their opening three matches.

“I spoke to a couple of the boys from the Lebanon side last night and they commented on the way the referee was adjudicating things and they caught on pretty quickly,” Smith said.