Saturday's Rugby League World Cup predictions and betting tips: Easy for England

Free rugby league tips, best bets and analysis for England v Papua New Guinea and New Zealand v Fiji in the Rugby League World Cup quarter-finals.

Where to watch

England v Papua New Guinea
BBC One, 2.30pm Saturday

New Zealand v Fiji
BBC Two, 7.30pm Saturday

Best bet

England -22
2pts 10-11 general

Peta Hiku first tryscorer in New Zealand v Fiji
1pt each-way 10-1 Betfair, Paddy Power

Match preview

Papua New Guinea and one of Pacific powerhouses Samoa or Tonga are all that now stands between England and a place in the Rugby League World Cup final at Old Trafford in two weeks.

Shaun Wane's tournament hosts passed their three group tests with largely flying colours but the former Wigan boss will know that things are about to get much more serious.

Wane said that he would use group games against Samoa, France and Greece to take a look at his entire 24-man squad but it is telling that all but one of the 17 who ran out for the tournament opener against Samoa are back for Saturday's quarter-final against Papua New Guinea.

England were underdogs for their 60-6 rout of the Samoans but they are heavily favoured to make their way past the Kumuls and are asked to give up 22 points on the handicap.

That seems a fair assessment and if anything slightly underestimates England's superiority if they operate at anywhere close to the level they did against Samoa.

Papua New Guinea have taken the mantle as the neutral's team after some enterprising running rugby and huge hits, but off-the-cuff rugby only gets you so far and bar a couple of blips against France, England have been as ruthless without the ball as they have with it.

England have won all four previous meetings between the pair with winning margins of 28, ten, 26 and 30 points.

New Zealand are 30-point favourites to beat Fiji in Saturday's second semi-final and Kiwis centre Peta Hiku could be a man to focus on in the tryscorer markets.

Hiku, who scored ten tries in 11 games for Warrington during a brief Super League stint in 2017, crossed four times in the group stage, dotting down second against Lebanon and third against both Jamaica and Ireland.

Fiji were vulnerable in the centre areas when they came up against Australia in their opener and at 10-1 Hiku looks an each-way first tryscorer play with a quarter the odds for scoring one of the game's first three tries.

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