HUDDERSFIELD: England put its Rugby League World Cup campaign back on track by outclassing Ireland 42-0 here on Saturday.

Just like it did in the tournament-opening loss to title favorite Australia, England started quickly. But this time it carried on against a much weaker Irish side and ended the group match as a contest by the 24 minute, when it led 30-0.

The English scored four scintillating tries in a seven-minute span, when the only time Ireland touched the ball was kicking it off back to the home side before a delighted sell-out crowd of 24,300.

Center Leroy Cudjoe passed out of tackles and over defenders to run in left winger Ryan Hall for an easy hat trick of tries to give him 17 tries in 17 tests; right wing Tom Briscoe scored a pair in two minutes; and second-rower Brett Ferres finished off another one of fullback Sam Tomkins’ breaks. Kevin Sinfield nailed half of his six goalkicks and hit a post.

Ireland, in making less mistakes, produced more pressure in the second half but still found the English defense unbreakable.

Meanwhile, England scored its seventh and eighth tries. Briscoe caught a crosskick in the right corner and passed inside for center Kallum Watkins to score untouched, and standoff Rangi Chase was first to a Tomkins grubber.

England will finish its group play against Fiji next weekend, and both are expected to follow Australia into the quarterfinals from Group A. Ireland, also beaten by Fiji, will need an unlikely win over Australia to stay alive.

England stages fightback to beat Australia 20-13

In London, England scored two tries in eight second-half minutes to come from behind and beat Australia 20-13 at Twickenham on Saturday, ending the Wallabies’ latest Grand Slam bid in the first match.

Despite being destroyed in the scrum, the Wallabies led 13-6 at halftime thanks to Matt Toomua’s converted try and two penalties by Quade Cooper.

However, England captain Chris Robshaw gathered a loose ball from a charged-down kick to burrow over the line in the 50th minute and Owen Farrell added a solo try to turn the game on its head. Farrell also kicked two penalties and two conversions for a 15-point haul.

Australia, which was kept scoreless after the break, lost for the eighth time in 11 tests in a woeful 2013 that already contains a series defeat to the British and Irish Lions and a third-place finish in the Rugby Championship. The wait for a first Grand Slam over the home unions since 1984 goes on.

England coach Stuart Lancaster has been billing this autumn series, in which his team also plays Argentina and New Zealand, as an important marker two years out from a home World Cup and this was an encouraging start against a side battled-hardened from the recent Rugby Championship.

Injury robbed Lancaster of five of his Lions — including first-choice centers Manu Tuilagi and Brad Barritt — and that contributed to the backline misfiring in the first half, when the handling was sloppy and the lineout and restarts failed to function in windy conditions.

But England showed great fighting qualities after the break, hardly letting Australia in its 22 and maintaining its usual dominance in the scrum that was established early. Australia’s front row conceded three penalties in the first 24 minutes.

With the usually unforgiving Farrell missing three straight penalties, the Australians were able to weather the early storm and somehow emerge after 30 minutes only 6-3 behind.

Then came a five-minute spell when they grabbed 10 points, with Toomua crashing through a poor attempted tackle from opposite center Billy Twelvetrees for a 31st-minute try while Cooper converted and added a second penalty for a 13-6 halftime lead.

The tourists stayed out on the pitch during halftime, continuing a tactic employed by Ewen McKenzie since taking over as coach in July. In that 10 minutes, they will have seen England’s World Cup-winning squad from 2003 circling the perimeter of the Twickenham pitch, parading the trophy won in Sydney 10 years ago.