THIS morning's Four Nations result means the end of the road for England.

Australia hammered Samoa 44-18 at the WIN Stadium in Wollongong to go forward into next weekend's final against table toppers New Zealand in Wellington.

England, who lost 16-14 to the Kiwis in Dunedin yesterday and needed Samoa to beat the Aussies by less than eight points, will head home this week.

England will return with heads held high, having pushed both the Kiwis and Kangaroos to the wire. Two of Gareth Widdop's conversion attempts from wide out bounced wide off a post against the Kiwis, while against Australia Ryan Hall controversially had a score ruled out with virtually the last play of the game in a 16-12 defeat.

England's only win came in the opening game, 32-26 against a Samoa team that only fell to New Zealand 14-12 on the back of a Shaun Kenny-Dowall try four minutes from time.