AFTER overcoming a groin strain last week to help his country through to the semi-finals Dean Busby now faces a battle to overcome a knee injury which threatens to rule him out of the biggest game of his career.

Busby was again tireless in attack and defence for 80 minutes in the loose forward position and help thwart any advances by Wigan's Adrian Lam and Hull's Stanley Gene as Wales beat Papua New Guinea 22-8.

Busby was cursing his luck after surviving 77 minutes injury-free before sustaining a bang to the knee.

He said: "It's very sore. I think it's medial knee ligament damage because my knee buckles and can be pushed from side to side.

"I have had a medial ligament injury before and was out for a while. It all depends how quickly it heals.

"The doctor will check it out and assess the damage once the swelling has gone down. I am gutted but hopefully it will be okay so that I can play against Australia."

The Wales coach Clive Griffiths had told his men that he was pleased with the performance despite the game not living up to the spectacle that it was billed as.

Busby said: " We were very satisfied. We leaked a soft try on the wing but apart from that our defence was good.

"There were a lot of tired people out there. We controlled the game well.

"We watched all their games and expected it to be tough but we didn't play as well as we can."

If there is one thing Busby is gaining from the tournament it is full games of rugby against quality opposition but he is feeling the pace and intensity.

He admitted: "That was the quickest game of the tournament and the one I've felt most tired in. I was off my feet.

"I am pleased with my own performance, the win and to get another full 80 minutes."

Busby believes that being rank outsiders against the world champions Australia should run in Wales' favour and will allow the team to play without the fear of expectation.

Busby said: 'The semi-final will be harder than when we played New Zealand but to be fair to us then we had a few players out.

"We go into the game with no pressure on us at all and I think that will allow us to play well."

Lee Briers grabbed his third try of the tournament and £500 for his second try of the game award with his first half effort for Wales against the Kumuls.

From the scrum half position Briers took a searching Iestyn Harris pass wide out left and dummied an inside run from Kris Tassell the stepped through the PNG centre and stretched full length to plant the ball over the tryline with a player wrapped around his legs.

Briers also set up Wigan's Wes Davies with his first world Cup try with a long pin-point pass to his centre Jason Critchley.

Wales won comfortably if not impressively. The match was one of the worst of the competition and failed to inspire an even less impressive crowd of just over 5,000 at Widnes's Autoquest Stadium.

Once again the competition's organisers seem to have missed an opportunity to make the most of shop window to the broader reaches of the country.

It is little wonder that 10,000 seats were empty when juniors were charged £12 to watch a poor game and 10 minutes before kick off there was still a huge queue to get in at the turnstiles.