Rugby League World Cup group stages: England star is born, Aussie dilemma, gulf in class

The Rugby League World Cup group stage is over. The knockout stage begins on Friday night. Four quarter-finals will take place before the semi-final and final.

England beat Samoa 60-6 in the opening game of the Rugby League World Cup. Dom Young scored a brace of tries on his debut. He followed his performance with four tries against France and four against Greece. England's group is very good. They will play Papua New Guinea in quarter-final and the winner of Tonga and Samoa in semi-finals.

Mal Meninga has a dilemma over halfback position at Rugby League World Cup. Daly Cherry-Evans and Nathan Cleary are the favourites for the position.

Cam Munster is a contender for the stand-off spot. Penrith Panthers star Cleary is regarded as the best player in the world. Cleare has led his club side to back-to-back NRL Premierships and won three Australian Origin series.

New Zealand beat Jamaica 68-0 in Hull. They will play Fiji in the semi-finals. Fiji beat them at the same stage in 2017. Australia and New Zealand are the other teams in this group.

Tonga beat Cook Islands in the Rugby League World Cup group stages. They need to beat Samoa in their final quarter-final to reach the semi-finals. Samoa beat Greece and France. They can also reach a second competitive semi final.

England won the Rugby League World Cup group stages. Every southern hemisphere side beat their northern hemisphere counterpart except Lebanon and Italy. There is a major gulf in class between the two sides. England is the only northern Hemisphere side to make the quarter-final.