Ashton urges discipline as England chase points in Perth ahead of France
Matty Ashton urged England to balance an urgent search for points with disciplined play as they prepare to face France in Perth on Saturday in their second Rugby League World Cup group fixture.
A defeat by Tonga last weekend has left Brian McDermott's side reliant on favourable results elsewhere to improve their chances of progressing.
Ashton, 28, has scored six tries in five previous England appearances and has been promoted to the starting line-up in place of Wigan's Zach Eckersley. He said England's display against Tonga showed promise but was 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. After France were 28-0 down inside the first 20 minutes against Samoa, Ashton warned they would be a different proposition and said: "We know what style of rugby they can play. They are pretty exciting when they get their game on." "We will expect a tough challenge and a different France this week. Any team that concedes 70-odd points is going to focus on their defence and we are a expecting a tough physical start from them. "They have a big forward pack and they try and put it on you early on."
With England's points difference currently 92 worse than Ben Gardiner's Samoa team in a combined Pool B and C table, they will almost certainly also need to defeat Papua New Guinea on Friday, 30 October (09:05 GMT), to have any chance of reaching the last four. Pools B and C are combined into one six-team league from which only the top two will make the semi-finals; England are drawn in Pool B and are playing the three Pool C teams - Tonga, France and Papua New Guinea.
Tonga strengthened their position in the combined table by following up their win over England with a 36-0 victory over Lebanon on Friday, with Sione Katoa and Jojo Fifita scoring two tries each. A key first-half moment saw, trailing 10-0 and chasing a try, Alex Conti kick towards the corner for Jason Saab, who was unable to collect and only batted it back for Tonga centre Tolutau Koula to run the length of the field and score; Paul Alamoti and Leka Halasima scored the other Tonga tries.
England v France is scheduled for Saturday, 24 October at 07:35 BST, with live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds and the BBC Sport website and app.