ENGLAND coach Tony Smith denied he had been worried despite the Papua New Guinea's' shock half-time lead in a tough encounter in North Queensland.
The Kumuls, the supposed makeweights of the 'super pool', threatened to pull off one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history when they scored three tries in a 21-minute spell to lead 16-12 at half-time.
But England hit back to triumph 32-22, wi
th Leeds Rhinos star Lee Smith grabbing a fine hat-trick of tries as his namesake maintained his 100 per cent international winning record.
Ex Rhinos head coach Smith said: "I wasn't concerned but there were some issues we needed to take care of.
"Once we did that, I knew we would score some points.
"It will probably do us a world of good rather than a soft game – though we knew it wouldn't be a soft game.
"They had plenty of ball, give them the ball they are going to rattle you up a bit and they did that for a while.
"We put a bit of pressure on ourselves not having enough composure in the first half.
"There are some lessons learned. They'll be better for the run, they showed character to come up with the win even if they didn't play particularly well."
Try hero Smith spent yesterday with the rest of the Leeds players at the Townsville home of Headingley team-mate Scott Donald, who was at the match on Saturday along with Rhinos prop Luke Burgess and his younger brother Sam, the Bradford loose forward.
His ankle was still causing him discomfort but the England medical team will work on the injury all week before making a decision on his fitness on Friday.
Smith's hat-trick was a rare highlight on a frustrating night for England who were forced to claw their way back into proceedings after a gutsy show from a PNG team led by a magnificent performance from Stanley Gene.
The 33-year-old Hull KR loose forward, who played in the 1995 World Cup, rolled back the years with an accomplished display that saw him play a role in three of his side's four tries.
Gene completely outshone Leon Pryce, who was as quiet as he had been in St Helens' Super League grand final defeat by Leeds, but offered some hope afterwards by suggesting England have what it takes to go on and win the tournament.
"I have worked with Tony Smith before and what a great coach he is. He has a great pool of talent and in any game you can only play what's in front of you," said Gene, who played under Smith at Huddersfield in 2003.
"They will pick up and play better. I wish England all the best, it's my second home and I want them to win the World Cup.
"I'm sure they can do it. It would be great for the country and great for Tony Smith and the boys if they did."
Tries by Ade Gardner and Smith's first, both of which were converted by Kevin SInfield, left England four points adrift at the break with Papua New Guinea having edged ahead with tries of their own from Rod Griffin, Jason Chan and George Keppa.
England rallied following the restart to impose their authority with two more tries for Smith, a second for Gardner and one by Martin Gleeson but the Papuans had the last word with a converted try from Paul Aiton.
On a tough night, ex-Rhinos' favourite Gareth Ellis added: "It was pleasing to finish in the manner that we did. But I was disappointed with the manner of the performance.
"It was important we got the win.
"We knew we could improve, we knew we just had to step up our game.
"They probably shocked us a bit the way they played, all credit to them, they stuck in there."
The England players all wore black armbands as a mark of respect to Adam Watene, the Wakefield Trinity prop who collapsed and died while working out in a gym two weeks ago.
ENGLAND: Wellens; Gardner, Gleeson, Senior, Smith; Pryce, McGuire; Peacock, Roby, Graham, Ellis, Hock, Sinfield. Substitutes: McGuire, Fa'asavalu, Morley, Wilkin.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Wilshere; Moore, Maori, Joe, Keppa; Gene, Peters; Aizue, Aiton, Exton, Costigan, Nightingale, Griffin. Substitutes: Pora, Moni, Chan, Wabo.
REFEREE: S Hayne (Australia).
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