Boss Brian McDermott has refused to criticise the controversial World Cup format which leaves England on the brink of elimination after just one game.

Last weekend’s 30-12 loss to Tonga means England need to win their remaining two fixtures - against France on Saturday and Papua New Guinea six days later - and hope other results go their way to have any chance of reaching the semi-finals.

The 10-team tournament features two pools, with Fiji, Australia, New Zealand and Cook Islands in group A and the rest in a combined division B and C. The top two from each will go through to the last four.

England - without a warm-up game, under a new coach and after a gruelling journey - played their biggest group match first, knowing defeat would almost certainly mean they don’t progress to a knockout tie. But McDermott insisted there’s no “frustration” on his part.

England coach Brian McDermott. Picture by Anita Reca/SWpix.com.

placeholder image — England coach Brian McDermott. Picture by Anita Reca/SWpix.com.

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“I just recognise it’s the nature of what we are doing,” the team boss stressed. “Credit to Australia for taking on the World Cup - the French rugby league federation said they couldn’t host the World Cup and Australia stepped in at the last minute and said ‘we can host it, but it has to be a 10-team comp’.

“New Zealand have lost their first game as well, but they are going to get another go at it. The likelihood is they are going to qualify and their destiny is not lying in other people’s hands. That’s not the position we find ourselves in.

“There’s no frustration, all I am recognising is the jeopardy is really harsh. We knew for us to go through we had to beat Tonga. They have been under [coach] Kristian Woolf for a number of years and every time they get together they add another layer of preparation.”

Zach Eckersley will switch to the bench when England face France on Saturday in their second World Cup fixture. Picture by Peter Keleman/SWpix.com.

The England coach has named an unchanged 19 to face France, but winger Matty Ashton will start with Zach Eckersley dropping to the bench. Leeds Rhinos’ Kallum Watkins is 20th man. McDermott stressed: “I am really pumped about what we’ve done over a short period of time.

“It has been remarkable, really, that we’ve come together and looked really good, I thought. Our prep’ while we have been in Australia has been really good; the flow, the cohesion of the staff, I am really pleased and we have laid some foundations now so we are pretty excited about where this could go. It is just harsh that we had to take a standing eight count in that first round, but we are ready to go again.

“Frustration would suggest something has gone wrong. Nothing has gone wrong, it’s just a harsh comp - you have to hit the ground running, which we didn’t do. There’s a lot to be proud about and certainly a lot to build on in the performance we had.”

Of the decision to axe quarter-finals and go straight from the group stage to last four, McDermott insisted: “If France had held the World Cup and there had been more teams in it, it would have had the usual pools - but because they haven’t, you have got to give Australia credit for taking it on at the last minute.

Kai Pearce-Paul on the attack for England during last week's costly loss to Tonga. Picture by Peter Keleman/SWpix.com.

“I completely understand if it has to be reduced to a 10-team comp, which is not the easiest thing to do and we end up with situations like this. There’s nobody to blame, it is just the unfortunate build up to this tournament which means it was put on at the last minute.

“It is a really tough competition to be in, if you lose one game you don’t really get chance to fix things up. It then comes down to other results, that’s tough I think.”