ENGLAND are on their way to Wembley and it is au revoir to France as they bow out of Rugby League World Cup 2013.

On the back of Saturday tonight’s 34-6 success over France at Wigan’s DW Stadium, it will be England against holders New Zealand in the first of two semi finals at Wembley next Saturday afternoon.

The second semi final will be contested between Australia – 64-0 victors over USA in their quarter final – and the winners of today’s highly anticipated Samoa v Fiji battle of the South Pacific at Warrington’s Halliwell Jones Stadium.

France, packed with talent from the Catalan Dragons Super League club, gave England a contest for 25 minutes but once the men in white had stretched out to a 22-6 lead a comeback looked beyond Les Bleu.

Not that England were anywhere near their best. Their sweeter fluent moments came in spurts, with four tries in 18 minutes in the first half the highlight.

Other spells were scruffy, scrappy and downbeat, with much lost possession and giving away of penalties to a French team putting up better resistance than they have done for a long time against England.

Steve McNamara’s men will need to make a vast improvement next week if they are to reach the final at Old Trafford on November 30.

The tie got off to a bizarre start, England skipper Kevin Sinfield finding no distance with his kick and from the bounce Warrington’s Ben Westwood reverse passing into no-man’s land to allow the French a breakaway.

In back play, France’s New Zealand-born hooker Kane Bentley was being carried off and Catalan Dragons rake Eloi Pelissier entering the fray with less than a minute on the clock.

But Les Bleu made their early possession count.

Les Catalans back rower Sebastian Raguin charged from dummy half and got his hands free to offload for clubmate Vincent Duport to crash over with three England men on his back. Thomas Bosc’s conversion made it 6-0 to France.

England were soon back on level terms though, Canterbury Bankstown’s James Graham releasing the backs from the stand off position and Wigan’s Sam Tomkins weaving in and out of the French line before slipping a one-handed flip pass for clubmate Josh Charnley to squeeze over on his home ground. Sinfield added the extras from the touchline for 6-6 after 10 minutes.

Steve McNamara’s men went in front in the 18th minute after sucking in three French defenders on the left, creating space for Tomkins’ long pass to send Leeds Rhinos’ Ryan Hall over for his seventh try of the tournament. Sinfield’s boot made it 12-6.

England made a change in the 25th minute, replacing Wigan’s Michael McIlorum at dummy half with St Helens’ James Roby and moments later the crowd were celebrating England’s third try. Again Charnley finished off after Leeds’ Kallum Watkins tricked the defence with some fancy footwork and although Sinfield was wide with the shot at goal England were breathing more easily at 16-6.

South Sydney Rabbitohs’ George Burgess replaced Warrington’s Chris Hill in the front row and England had their tails up as Roby darted away. Huddersfield’s Leroy Cudjoe then broke free off a subsequent Sean O’Loughlin pass down the left and handed on for Hall to cross for his second of the night, with Sinfield’s improvement putting England in control at half time, 22-6.

If the outcome had not been settled in the first half, it was with O’Loughlin’s score in the 47th minute after Hall had knocked back Chase’s kick to the corner. Cudjoe picked up and steered over the Wigan loose forward and Sinfield’s extras stretched England’s advantage to 28-6.

It was all pretty drab after that and McNamara looked to be weighing up his options and combinations for next week, rotating his pack men between central positions and on the outer channels.

Opportunities to extend the lead did materialise but poor handling dictated that the 22,276 crowd had to wait until the 74th minute for Brett Ferres to crash over from O’Loughlin’s pass, by which point England were down to 12 men due to Tomkins being in the sin bin for holding down Damien Cardace after a breakaway.

Sinfield’s conversion was the final score on a night with more questions than answers about England’s ability to win this tournament.

England: 1 Sam Tomkins; 2 Joshua Charnley, 3 Kallum Watkins, 4 Leroy Cudjoe, 5 Ryan Hall; 6 Rangi Chase, 7 Kevin Sinfield; 8 James Graham, 9 Michael McIlorum, 10 Christopher Hill, 11 Sam Burgess, 12 Ben Westwood, 13 Sean O' Loughlin. Subs: 14 James Roby, 15 George Burgess, 16 Brett Ferres, 17 Liam Farrell.

France: 1 Morgan Escare; 2 Damien Cardace, 3 Jean-Philippe Baile, 4 Vincent Duport, 5 Clint Greenshields; 6 Thomas Bosc, 7 William Barthau; 8 Jamal Fakir, 9 Kane Bentley, 10 Remi Casty, 11 Olivier Elima, 12 Sebastian Raguin, 13 Gregory Mounis. Subs: 14 Eloi Pelissier, 15 Younes Khattabi, 16 Antoni Maria, 17 Mickael Simon.