Hodgson out of the final as England cling on for victory
England hooker Josh Hodgson has been ruled out of Saturday’s World Cup final with a knee injury that will almost certainly force him to miss the start of next year’s NRL season.
The 28-year-old Canberra player sustained the injury in yesterday’s semi-final victory over Tonga and MRI scans have confirmed the worst fears of head coach Wayne Bennett. An England spokesman said: “Hodgson will now return to Canberra for a specialist review with a view to operate.”
Hodgson, who has started four of England’s five matches so far, went off with his injury after 23 minutes and failed to return. England have also yet to provide an update on Sean O’loughlin, who is a doubt after suffering a quad strain.
England had to cling on for their victory over Tonga, which secured a first World Cup final appearance for 22 years. Bennett’s team were coasting at 20-0 but suddenly found themselves battling a red tidal wave as the Pacific Islanders, roared on by the vast majority of the crowd, ran in three converted tries in the last seven minutes.
It might have been four had Andrew Fifita been able to hang on to the ball as he charged for the line, with just seconds left, but it came loose in Elliott Whitehead’s tackle, much to England’s relief.
Tonga coach Kristian Woolf said he was baffled by referee Matt Cecchin’s failure to refer the call to video referee Ben Thaler after Fifita regathered the ball to touch down.
England’s final opponents are holders Australia, who have conceded just 16 points in their five matches so far and blitzed Fiji 54-6 in their semi-final.
Bennett, a former Australia coach, admitted that his side were “probably not” playing well enough to beat the Kangaroos. Whether that was partly an attempt to engage in mind games or just brutal honesty was hard to discern.