England 24–36 New Zealand — Group A, 2008 Rugby League World Cup
8 Nov 2008 · Newcastle International Sports Centre, Newcastle, Australia · Attendance: 15,145
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Group A, 2008 Rugby League World Cup: England 24–36 New Zealand, at Newcastle International Sports Centre, Newcastle, Australia on 8 Nov 2008.
Scorers
| England | Tries: Higham; Burrow (2); Gleeson Goals: Purdham (4/4) |
| New Zealand | Tries: Vatuvei (4); Hohaia; Nightingale; Fien Goals: Luke (3/4); Smith (1/1) |
Teams
| England | New Zealand | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Wellens | Fullback | Lance Hohaia | 1 |
| 2 | Mark Calderwood | Wing | Jason Nightingale | 2 |
| 3 | Paul Sykes | Centre | Steve Matai | 3 |
| 4 | Keith Senior | Centre | Jerome Ropati | 4 |
| 5 | Lee Smith | Wing | Manu Vatuvei | 5 |
| 6 | Martin Gleeson | Stand off/Five eighth | Benji Marshall (c) | 6 |
| 7 | Rob Burrow | Scrum half/Half back | Thomas Leuluai | 7 |
| 8 | Adrian Morley | Prop forward | Adam Blair | 8 |
| 9 | Mick Higham | Hooker | Nathan Fien | 9 |
| 10 | Jamie Peacock (c) | Prop forward | Evarn Tuimavave | 10 |
| 11 | Jamie Jones-Buchanan | Second row | Simon Mannering | 11 |
| 12 | Gareth Ellis | Second row | David Fa'alogo | 12 |
| 13 | Robert Purdham | Loose forward/Lock forward | Jeremy Smith | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | Kevin Sinfield | Isaac Luke | 14 | |
| 15 | Ben Westwood | Greg Eastwood | 15 | |
| 16 | Gareth Hock | David Kidwell | 16 | |
| 17 | Jamie Langley | Bronson Harrison | 17 | |
| Tony Smith | Coach | Stephen Kearney | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Tony Archer (Australia) — single-sourced |
| Touch judges | Tony De Las Heras — single-sourced, Steve Chiddy — single-sourced |
| Player of the match | Not confirmed to Tier-1 standard |
Match report
New Zealand beat England 36-24 at Newcastle, Manu Vatuvei scoring four tries — then a record for tries by a New Zealand player in a single World Cup match, surpassing the previous record of three.
Previous World Cup meetings
- 1975 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): New Zealand 17–17 England
- 1975 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): England 27–12 New Zealand
- 2000 Rugby League World Cup (Semi-final): New Zealand 49–6 England
- 2008 Rugby League World Cup (Semi-final): New Zealand 32–22 England
- 2013 Rugby League World Cup (Semi-final): New Zealand 20–18 England