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Tonga followed up their opening round win over England with a 36-0 victory over Lebanon on Friday to put themselves in pole position to reach the last four of the tournament.

And Samoa's thumping 78-4 win over France plus their 64-6 triumph over Papua New Guinea this morning leaves England in all sorts of bother.

Brian McDermott's side are now 150 points worse off than Ben Gardiner's Samoa team in a combined Pool B and C table and basically need to win big today.

They will then to defeat PNG on Friday, 30 October (09:05 GMT) in Wollongong and hope that Tonga can beat Samoa on Sunday, 1 November (09:05 GMT).

The format of this tournament features an unbalanced group stage, which has not helped England's prospects.

Pool A has four teams - Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and the Cook Islands - fighting for two semi-final places in a round-robin format.

But Pools B and C are combined into one six-team league, from which only the top two will make the semi-finals. England, drawn in Pool B, are playing the three Pool C teams - Tonga, France and PNG.

Steve Sutcliffe
BBC Sport rugby league reporter

England head coach Brian McDermott has also called for Super League to accept investment from Australia's NRL in order to improve the English game.

Talks are currently ongoing after Super League clubs rejected a £35m package from the Australian Rugby League Commission and a second deadline of 15 October was allowed to pass without an agreement being reached.

Formalising a partnership between the sport's two leading competitions is seen as as a key step in helping to grow the European competition's revenue.

"I think the NRL's investment in Super League could be very, very positive," said McDermott, who is also the assistant coach of the Gold Coast Titans.

"The product's brilliant. It has always being brilliant. The product's never been the problem. The players have never been the problem. The coaches have never been the problem.

"It's just how it's marketed and how it's presented to people. I think there's some dominoes could start falling our way if the NRL invests and we accept their investment."

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Image source, SWPix

England boss Brian McDermott, speaking about the format of the World Cup earlier this week: "The jeopardy of losing one game is so harsh, it's almost like we don't get another chance to straighten things out.

"There's still a slim chance that we get through, and that's something we're focusing on and we're really determined.

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

"I'm trying to be diplomatic here. If France had held the World Cup, there would have been more teams in it. It would have had the usual pools for the teams.

"You've got to give Australia a lot of credit for taking it on the last minute. But because they [France] haven't, I completely understand that it has to be reduced to a 10-team competition, which is not the easiest thing to do and then we end up in situations like this."

Image source, Getty Images

If anyone is thinking it would not be a huge upset if England were to lose today.

England have won 23 consecutive Tests against France, with their last defeat coming at Headingley in 1981. The score that day was 1-5.

Steve Sutcliffe
BBC Sport rugby league reporter

England winger Matty Ashton has stressed the need to balance the chase for points with retaining their discipline when they face France in Perth on Saturday in their second World Cup group fixture.

Defeat to Tonga last weekend has left England needing results elsewhere to go in their favour over rounds two and three.

And Brian McDermott's side also find themselves needing to make up a hefty points difference in Group B & C after Samoa thrashed the French 78-4 in their first match.

However, Ashton, 28, insists that the focus will be on repeating and adding to their performance against Tonga, which was brimming with promise but undermined by errors at key moments.

"We know that game is a bit different for us this week. I don't think anything changes in our process," Ashton said.

"We all know points have got to be scored but we are not going to do that without sticking to our process and we can't take France lightly.

"We need to stick to our basics and the things we did in the Tonga game but obviously improve on that and hopefully the points will pick up."

England have scored 106 points across their two previous meetings with France while conceding 18.

However, while Laurent Frayssinous side also found themselves 28-0 down inside the first 20 minutes against Samoa, Ashton says he is anticipating France to be a different proposition against England.

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England were left exhausted and with little preparation time for the start of their Rugby League World Cup campaign because of a travel schedule straight out of the film Planes, Trains and Automobiles, head coach Brian McDermott says.

England's 30-12 defeat by Tonga last Saturday has left them teetering on the brink of elimination because of the unusual format of this year's tournament.

However, the UK-based players in McDermott's squad were hardly helped by a lengthy trip to their Perth base, taking almost 48 hours.

Speaking to the media on Thursday, McDermott likened it to the hapless journey undertaken by Steve Martin and John Candy in their 1987 road-trip comedy.

"We were going around the world 15 times to arrive in Perth. We were [exhausted] for about three days afterwards," said McDermott.

"I think we were on the same aeroplane as John Candy and Steve Martin, for all you who remember Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

"I had to call Monday's training session short because you could tell there was a load of residue from travel still left in them."

BBC Sport understands that the tournament organiser planned England's travel itinerary for the World Cup. The BBC has contacted the International Rugby League, the game's world governing body, for comment.

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One week on from a 30-12 defeat to Tonga, can England put things right against France?

Image source, SWPix

One change to the starting 13 for England today with Warrington winger Matty Ashton replacing Wigan's Zach Eckersley.

England: AJ Brimson, Dom Young, Hugo Savala, Herbie Farnworth, Matty Ashton, George Williams, Harry Smith, Max King, Brad O'Neill, Luke Thompson, Junior Nsemba, Kai Pearce-Paul, Victor Radley.

Interchange: Jez Litten, Ben Currie, Ethan Havard, Sam Walters, Jack Welsby, Mikey Lewis.

France promote Thomas Lacans to start in the halves, with Cesar Rouge dropping to the bench. Captain Ben Garcia moves to lock and Amir Bourouh starts as hooker.

France: Arthur Mourgue, Fouad Yaha, Latrell Siegwalt, Romeo Tropis, Benjamin Laguerre, Thomas Lacans, Theo Fages, Romain Navarrete, Amir Bourouh, Julian Bousquet, Arthur Romano, Mathieu Jussaume, Ben Garcia

Interchange: Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet, Cesar Rouge, Lambert Belmas, Mathieu Cozza, Louis Grossemy, Jordan Dezaria

Image source, Getty Images

England's women got us under way with a win seven days ago. Now it is the men's turn as Brian McDermott's side look to get their first victory on the board against France.

Will it be enough to help push them towards the semi-finals? We shall see.

It's time to get this show on the road.