England 32–22 Papua New Guinea — Group A, 2008 Rugby League World Cup
25 Oct 2008 · Willows Sports Complex, Townsville, Australia · Attendance: 10,780
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Group A, 2008 Rugby League World Cup: England 32–22 Papua New Guinea, at Willows Sports Complex, Townsville, Australia on 25 Oct 2008.
Scorers
| England | Tries: Smith (3); Gardner (2); Gleeson Goals: Sinfield (4/6) |
| Papua New Guinea | Tries: Griffin; Chan; Kepa; Aiton Goals: Wilshere (3/4) |
Teams
| England | Papua New Guinea | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Wellens | Fullback | John Wilshere (c) | 1 |
| 2 | Ade Gardner | Wing | David Mead | 2 |
| 3 | Martin Gleeson | Centre | Tu'u Maori | 3 |
| 4 | Keith Senior | Centre | Jessie Joe Parker | 4 |
| 5 | Lee Smith | Wing | George Kepa | 5 |
| 6 | Leon Pryce | Stand off/Five eighth | Stanley Gene | 6 |
| 7 | Rob Burrow | Scrum half/Half back | Keith Peters | 7 |
| 8 | Jamie Peacock (c) | Prop forward | Makali Aizue | 8 |
| 9 | James Roby | Hooker | Paul Aiton | 9 |
| 10 | James Graham | Prop forward | Trevor Exton | 10 |
| 11 | Gareth Hock | Second row | Neville Costigan | 11 |
| 12 | Gareth Ellis | Second row | James Nightingale | 12 |
| 13 | Kevin Sinfield | Loose forward/Lock forward | Rod Griffin | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | Danny McGuire | Rodney Pora | 14 | |
| 15 | Maurie Fa'asavalu | George Moni | 15 | |
| 16 | Adrian Morley | Jason Chan | 16 | |
| 17 | Jon Wilkin | Charlie Wabo | 17 | |
| Tony Smith | Coach | Adrian Lam | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Shayne Hayne (Australia) — single-sourced |
| Touch judges | Steve Chiddy — single-sourced, Adam Burns — single-sourced |
| Player of the match | Not confirmed to Tier-1 standard |
Match report
England opened the 2008 World Cup with a 32-22 win over Papua New Guinea at Townsville, Lee Smith scoring a hat-trick.
Previous World Cup meetings
- 2017 Rugby League World Cup (Quarter-final): England 36–6 Papua New Guinea
- 2021 Rugby League World Cup (Quarter-final): England 46–6 Papua New Guinea