England take on Greece in final group stage game of RLWC21

After Greece’s latest defeat confirmed England’s place in the quarter finals of the 2021 Rugby League World Cup, this game is very much about building fitness and momentum for Shaun Wane’s side who look to head into the knockout stages with a 100% record.

Dominant wins against Samoa and France mean England are brimming with confidence heading into their third match of the tournament, and they’ve proved a lot of doubters wrong.

They weren’t even favourites for many heading into the tournament opener at St James Park, but a Dom Young brace and 60 points later, England are flying and it’s going to be hard to call who is everyone’s pick of the bunch, particularly out of the ‘big three’.

With New Zealand and Australia both recording huge wins in round two, they both certainly stepped up their preparations for the knock-out stages and England will be wanting to put a fair few points past Greece in order to keep their name in and around the other two big nations.

Whilst they still want to get as many points as possible on the board, Wane has already announced that a couple of players will be rested ahead of the final group game. One of the missing players will be Sam Tomkins who’s started both games for the host nation at full-back.

He will be joined by Kallum Watkins, Herbie Farnworth, Michael McIlorum and Elliot Whitehead who will all watch this one from the side-lines after all impressing in the opening two fixtures.

Whilst players are rested, there will be historic moments as both Kai Pearce-Paul and Joe Batchelor will both make their test debuts for the national team after missing out in the first two encounters of the tournament.

The absence of Sam Tomkins means that George Williams will captain the side for just the second time, the first being in the warm-up game against Fiji back in September.

As for Greece, it’s about taking in the experience for them. They’re a part of the first international Rugby League fixture to ever be played at Bramall Lane and captain Jordan Meads described the ground as ‘ten-fold what I expected’.

The game is kicking off at 2:30pm with it available to watch like all games in the men, women’s and wheelchair World Cup across the BBC.

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