England's defeat to Tonga in their opening game of the Rugby League World Cup left them on the brink of elimination.
On the brink, but not mathematically eliminated.
Owing to the unusual format and the gulf in quality between England, Tonga, Samoa and the rest of the Pool B and C teams meant that defeat for Brian McDermott's side would need them leaving snookers, though their hopes remained alive heading into the final round of fixtures.
Samoa and England were expected to win both of their other group games, meaning points difference would be used to separate them if they both lost to Tonga.
Should Samoa beat Tonga, England will be eliminated, losing on head-to-head with Tonga, making any points difference irrelevant.
England's defeat to Tonga meant they'd need sizeable victories over France and Papua New Guinea to have any chance of qualifying, and they did the first part with an 82-0 demolition over France last time out.
However, being 68 points worse off than Samoa, England's 34-12 win hasn't really done them any favours, now needing a 44-point win from Tonga over Samoa on Sunday.
