England

England 0 Belgium 1

With Brazil potentially awaiting in the quarter-finals for the group winners, there was speculation both teams would prefer to finish second to be paired with either Sweden or Switzerland in the last eight.

But despite Belgium making nine changes from their previous group match and England eight, both sides showed plenty of willingness to try and win the game and the group.

England 6 Panama 1

Gareth Southgate's side had squeezed past Tunisia in their opening Group G game thanks to a stoppage-time winner from their skipper, but there was no late drama in a one-sided clash in Nizhny Novgorod.

Kane and John Stones both scored twice in the first half, the former converting a pair of penalties as England netted five before the break against their beleaguered opponents.

Vermeulen on Vunipola absence

Vunipola's tour came to an end on Monday after it was confirmed he had re-fractured his arm during the second match in Bloemfontein.

The number eight has returned to London and will be assessed next week to establish what action needs to be taken to fix the problem.

Vunipola's brother Mako has also flown home after England fell 2-0 down in the three-match series, but it is Billy that Vermeulen believes will be the biggest loss.

Tunisia 1 England 2

England's talisman and captain put them ahead in the 11th minute of Monday's clash in Volgograd, but Tunisia levelled in contentious fashion.

Referee Wilmar Roldan pointed to the spot when Kyle Walker caught Fakhreddine Ben Youssef with his arm and Ferjani Sassi levelled with an unconvincing penalty.

England wasted numerous opportunities prior to that leveller but will have been unimpressed by Roldan's performance thereafter, the Colombian ignoring multiple penalty appeals from the Three Lions.

Jones feeling the heat

Former Wallabies coach Jones's side raced to a 12-0 lead in Bloemfontein on Saturday before the Springboks got into the game and over-ran them 23-12 to secure the series.

It's the second week in a row England have let a lead slip, with South Africa coming back to win 42-39 in Johannesburg.

The defeat on Saturday was the sixth overall on the trot for England, who also lost to the Barbarians before they left for South Africa.

England can win the World Cup – Mourinho

Southgate has taken a relatively inexperienced group of players to Russia compared to previous tournaments, with Joe Hart and Jack Wilshere among the big names left out.

England face Tunisia in their opening game on Monday, with Panama and star-studded Belgium their other opponents in Group G.

But Mourinho, whose Manchester United players Jesse Lingard, Ashley Young, Phil Jones and Marcus Rashford are all in the squad, feels England have the talent to go all the way.

England beaten by Baabaas

The hosts fielded a mixture of regular internationals and young players but the inexperienced line-up was no match for the power of the Barbarians, who ran in nine tries in an entertaining game full of running rugby.

Winger Chris Ashton, who has 39 caps for England, grabbed a hat-trick of tries for the Barbarians inside 25 minutes as they crossed the line five times in the first half.

Former All Black Victor Vito also scored two tries.

Kane dreams of lifting World Cup

Kane will lead the Three Lions as they look to make amends for their humiliating last-16 defeat to Iceland at Euro 2016.

And despite England having not won the tournament since 1966, the Tottenham striker is feeling bullish about their chances of going all the way this time around.

"It's impossible not to dream about lifting the World Cup, it's the biggest competition in the world," he told a news conference. "For me, it's going to be a massive dream to play in it. It's impossible not to think about that.

Denver Test appears certain to go ahead

RLIF chairman John Grant was invited to attend the NRL CEO's meeting, along with representatives of the NZRL and England's Rugby Football League, to discuss with clubs and the RLPA concerns about the flight time and recovery process for players in the Test.

The RLPA is still working through some issues with the countries but there is an acceptance that the Test will go ahead after the NZRL outlined details of the insurance coverage and medical processes for Kiwis players.

Commonwealth Games: Zharnel Hughes disqualified for hitting Jereem Richards

Hughes was disqualified on the grounds he impeded Trinidad and Tobago's Richards in Thursday night's final at Carrara Stadium.

England lodged an appeal in the aftermath but it was unsuccessful and the disqualification stood.

Hughes had been leading Richards, who was in the lane to his left, by about a metre halfway down the home straight.

Richards was drawing level with Hughes less than 20 metres from the finish line when he was struck by the Englishman's straying left arm.