England should have Sam Burgess back for a likely World Cup quarter-final against Papua New Guinea. The medial knee ligament injury sustained in the opening loss to Australia is not as severe as first thought, although he is expected to miss the remaining group games against Lebanon on Saturday and France on November 12. Burgess saw a knee specialist, who eased his worst fears, 24 hours after the South Sydney forward limped during England’s 18-4 defeat by the Kangaroos in Melbourne last Friday. “It was a blow to lose Sam so early, but the team coped and competed against the number one side in the competition,” coach Wayne Bennett said. “He’ll be a loss but we expect to see him back soon and pushing for…

Source: The Times October 28, 2017 23:48 UTC