England winger escapes World Cup ban

Winger Jermaine McGillvary has been cleared to play in England’s final Rugby League World Cup group game against France on Sunday after being found not guilty of biting.

Lebanon captain Robbie Farah accused McGillvary of biting during England’s 29-10 win last Saturday and was facing a ban of up to 12 weeks if found guilty.

But a three-man disciplinary panel took just three minutes to clear McGillvary who gave evidence via a video link from England’s team hotel in Freemantle with The Independent explaining the significance of the outcome.

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“It is a boost to coach Wayne Bennett with McGillvary one of the leading lights in their campaign so far. One of only two specialist wingers in Bennett’s 24-man squad, he was given the players’ man of the match after scoring England’s only points in the 18-4 defeat by Australia in Melbourne and got another try against Lebanon to take his total to seven in eight appearances.”

England’s hopes of making further progress in Australia have received another boost with The Mirror reporting star Sam Burgess would be fit for the knockout stages of the competition.

“Burgess limped out of the opening defeat to Australia in Melbourne with a medial ligament strain. But he has continued his rehabilitation alongside the rest of the squad and will be ready for the last eight, which is set to be against Papua New Guinea in Melbourne on Sunday November 19.”

England are currently second in Group A with two points from two games while France are bottom having lost to both Australia and Lebanon.

Scotland will attempt to salvage some pride from what has been a wretched tournament when they take on Samoa on Saturday having been thrashed in both their games so far and seen three players sent home for drunkenness.

Wales take on Ireland in their final group game on Sunday with coach John Kear telling the BBC that the World Cup has failed to capture the imagination in Australia.

“I get the impression from speaking to people involved in the game in the southern hemisphere that this is looked upon as a third-tier comp. They say State of Origin is the top tier, followed by NRL and this is seen as a standard below NRL and that is reflected in the interest shown in it.”