World class

New Zealand slip up in their quarter-final, will be relieved to get through a bruising battle to set up a showdown with Tonga in Auckland next Saturday.

On McGillvary’s form, former Great Britain captain Paul Sculthorpe tweeted: “How good is Jerry!”

McGillvary has taken over from teammate Ryan Hall as the world’s best winger during a fantastic tournament in which he has scored six tries in four matches.

More than that, the explosive Huddersfield winger produced another series of relieving runs that took some of the workload off the forwards. England did survive a key early moment, however, when Papua New Guinea had a chance to open the scoring when centre Kato Ottio dropped the ball over the line.

Had he touched down, the score would have put an extra spring in the Kumuls’ step and England would have faced an even tougher battle to get on top.

Ratings: Gareth Widdop 6/10, Jermaine McGillvary 9, Kallum Watkins 8, John Bateman 5, Ryan Hall 6; Kevin Brown 6, Luke Gale 7, Chris Hill 6, Josh Hodgson 7, James Graham 8, Sam Burgess 8, Elliott Whitehead 7, Sean O’Loughlin 7.

Interchange: Alex Walmsley 8, Tom Burgess 6, Ben Currie, 6, James Roby 8.

Bennett concedes his side will need to improve if they are to go all the way in the World Cup.

Bennett, who has admitted to having a resemblance to actor Clint Eastwood, described the quarter-final win as “the good, the bad and the ugly”.

Bennett remains impressed by his players’ attitude and performance in training but is worried over their poor completion rate.

“Of course, I’m concerned,” he said.

“Maybe we were just due for a below-average performance and