TEAM changes and a wobbly start appeared to impact on England’s performance against France in Saturday’s Rugby League World Cup quarter final at Wigan’s DW Stadium.

Other than for an 18-minute purple patch in which four tries were clocked up by the hosts – two each from wingers Ryan Hall and Josh Charnley – there was a lack of fluency through poor timing leading to below-par execution.

A lot of possession was wasted, meaning England’s defence was given a decent test by a French outfit that was more resilient than it has been for many a year.

Through it all, Warrington’s Ben Westwood and Chris Hill were solid in their two spells on the field although not error free, as was the case with most of the 17 players.

It was back rower Westwood’s wild throw as he was heading into touch that provided France with the possession and territory for their only try courtesy of Catalan Dragons’ Vincent Duport in the fifth minute, while Hill released a couple of offloads he would probably have been better off hanging on to.

They played their part in restoring England control, Hill going off with England 16-6 in front and Westwood soon after at 22-6.

England’s shakiest period came after that and only one try had been added by the time they returned midway through the second period.

Changes to combinations can unsettle rhythm and Saturday’s initial selections and rotations were a typical case.

Part of the issue seems to be Steve McNamara settling on his best starting pack, with seven players appearing in the mix since Sean O’Loughlin’s recovery from injury and Sam Burgess’ return from suspension.

Against France, Burgess, who was man of the match in the final group game at prop, made his first start of the tournament at left second row in order for Hill and James Graham to lead from the front together for the first time, allowing O’Loughlin to appear at loose forward.

When Westwood left the field for Brett Ferres to join the action, Burgess switched to right second row to work on an edge where Charnley had started instead of Tom Briscoe for the first time since the opening day.

It was not surprising that England’s attacking play became scruffy and scrappy as McNamara seemingly weighed up his options for the semi final against New Zealand.

Let’s hope the sacrifice of the quarter-final performance – important to the sport in this country as one of too few World Cup matches being shown live by the BBC - is worth it at Wembley on Saturday.