'Outstanding' Tonga puts England on the brink of World Cup elimination

Coach Kristian Woolf says Tonga showed off its new-found "depth and quality" in marching past England at the Rugby League World Cup.

The result left the English at risk of missing the semifinals for the first time.

With His Majesty King Tupou VI and Crown Prince Tupouto'a 'Ulukalala among the sellout 18,302 crowd in Perth on Saturday night, Tonga controlled the game when it counted, for a 30-12 win.

"We got more and more confident. What I liked the most was the way we defended; we put ourselves under pressure a couple of times, but our defence was outstanding," Woolf said after the game.

"You could see how much the game meant to us, and we showed that in our effort, and it's something that will carry us through the tournament."

The Mate Ma'a got better as the game went on, powering away from the world number three side to seal a victory which puts them in the box seat to reach the semifinals.

A first-half try to Stefano Utoikamanu set up a 10-0 lead at the break. But an early score from AJ Brimson was quickly countered, with two tries to Haumole Olakau'atu and one from Tolutau Koula as Tonga ran away with the game.

A try to Dominic Young with under 20 minutes to go was only a consolation for England.

"We've done some special things with the Tonga team, but we're still quite new to beating tier-one nations, and England are that – they're a very strong team. We knew they would come out and be physical, and challenge us in different ways," Woolf said.

"It's a continuation of a journey that we're on. If you look at some of the young guys and some of the guys who are a little bit more experienced now, the experience they've got over the last three or four years has been outstanding.

"It's put us in a really good position. They're getting better and better. We've got depth and quality, and we can go and do something with it now."

The defeat is a huge blow to England's chances.

England (or previously Great Britain) has never failed to reach the final four at a Rugby League World Cup.

This result leaves Brian McDermott's team likely to fall short, given the format of the competition.

The team was playing for the first time since losing to Australia in Leeds in November last year.

"It was a really good contest, and when it wasn't a contest, that was probably more to do with us in the errors that we made," McDermott said.

"They're a big team, strong team, and they've got some tremendous players in there. And I thought we we stuck toe-to-toe with them for nearly all the game."

England has to beat France on October 24 and Papua New Guinea on October 30 and hope other results and scores go their way, as they try to finish in the top two of the combined six-team Pool B and C.

Should England and Samoa end up with the same number of wins, the tiebreaker will be which nation has the better points-for-and-against differential.

With Samoa opening its campaign with a 78-4 smashing of France, it leaves England needing to post massive wins in its remaining two games to stay alive.