Johnson leaves it late to break English hearts

AFP/London

England looked to have booked a berth in next weekend’s final but Johnson scooted around Kevin Sinfield’s rush defence to touch down. His conversion wrapped up an enthralling match that featured both brute power and deft offloads.

The game got off to a bone-crunching start, the darting Issac Luke denied a try off his own dink over the tryline by the toe of Auckland-bound Sam Tomkins’ boot.

Jason Nightingale was then bundled into touch at the corner after a smart Sonny Bill Williams offload opened up an attacking line.

Star England forward Sam Burgess caught a whopping straight arm from Kiwi enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and, from the penalty, Josh Charnley was played into space as England threatened for the first time.

The Wigan winger, ball in one hand, shot down the sideline but ignored Tomkins on his inside and was caught short of the line.

A risky Charnley pass then opened up a chance for the visitors, Kiwi captain Simon Mannering feeding Bryson Goodwin, who looked certain to score up against prop James Graham until Ryan Hall shot over from his wing to produce an outstanding tackle.

Both sides were completing their sets but it was England who got on the scoreboard first in the 16th minute.

The outstanding Graham’s delayed pop pass played Sam Burgess into a gap, his burst enough to tie in two defenders, and an offload freed loose forward Sean O’Loughlin, who rode Kevin Locke’s tackle to touch down, Sinfield kicking the conversion.

Burgess showcased his burgeoning skills minutes later, sidestepping Elijah Taylor and bursting through the gap, his offload however going to ground as the supporting players were illegally taken out. Sinfield kicked the penalty.

The Kiwis came roaring back and it was a display of athletic brilliance by Dean Whare that was key for their first try on the half-hour.

The centre leaped high over the touchline like a ballerina to scoop back a ball to Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, the winger driving his way over the line for a try Johnson converted.

Johnson then landed a 40-metre penalty on the stroke of half-time to draw the scores level, which was to remain the case for just four minutes after the interval.

Tuivasa-Sheck crossed for his second try stepping through the weak tackles of Gareth Widdop and Leroy Cudjoe after a training ground move went slickly through the hands in midfield and Hall drifted off his wing.

The Kiwis spurned a very kickable penalty chance but Tuivasa-Sheck was stripped of the ball in the corner, Johnson booting one soon after following a Widdop foul.

England then put together a concerted spell of pressure, Kallum Watkins picking a fine angle to take Sinfield’s flat pass and come slicing inside Nightingale for a try, the skipper missing the extras.

With the Kiwis under the cosh, Sam Burgess crashed over Locke for England’s third try after Sinfield and James Roby combined off a quick play-the-ball to give the host nation the lead once more.

Sinfield converted to make it 18-14 with 12 minutes to play.

The English defence initially held firm as the Kiwis started to throw the ball around, but Johnson spotted a gap as Sinfield rushed forward, jinking over to draw the scores level and then converting to break home hearts.

Australia demolish Fiji, set up final against NZ

In the other semi-final, Australia’s bid to reclaim the Rugby League World Cup advanced smoothly with a Johnathan Thurston-inspired 64-0 demolition of Fiji. The Kangaroos will meet New Zealand at Old Trafford next weekend.

In a re-run of their last World Cup semi-final in 2008 when they won 52-0, Australia proved far too powerful for the Fijians in every department.

They raced into a 34-0 half-time lead thanks to tries from Thurston, Darius Boyd, Cooper Cronk, Jarryd Hayne (2) and Josh Papalii, Thurston converting five as they turned the screw.

Hayne, who played for Fiji in the last World Cup, showed great skill for his second try, seeing off three Fijians in a great individual effort.

The second period got off to a quiet start as Fiji attempted to batten down the hatches. But that was broken when James Tamou bulldozed his way through a desperate defence to ground the ball with an outstretched hand.

Boyd was put in for his second shortly afterwards as the Australian backs showed their slick handling skills to exploit a simple overlap.