ANXIOUS Giants officials were today waiting to hear whether Paul Reilly was suffering any ill effects following his brief, but painful appearance for England against France on Saturday.

The Huddersfield full-back came in for some harsh treatment after coming on as a second-half substitute for Hull's Shaun Briscoe during the European Nations Championship match in Avignon.

Reilly was brought on after the interval, but lasted only 17 minutes before he had to be helped from the field having been body-slammed by three French defenders.

The other Giants player in the squad, Eorl Crabtree, also got in on the action as a substitute as England clinched a place in the Championship final with a convincing 42-4 victory.

The honours largely went to the Leeds Rhinos duo, winger Mark Calderwood and half-back Rob Burrow, who each scored a splendid hat trick of tries.

The French put up stiff resistance in the first half and the scores were still level at 4-4 after 22 minutes when Claude Sirvent touched down to wipe out Andy Coley's opening score for the visitors.

But the turning point came with the introduction of Burrows after 25 minutes, and with almost his first touch he picked up at the base of a scrum and shot through the defence for a fine individual try.

Calderwood scored his first after a break from Ben Westwood, and England really took charge with two tries inside the last four minutes of the half.

The next again fell to Calderwood who touched down a Burrows kick and the half-back then beat five defenders to score the try of the night.

That gave England an unassailable 28-4 interval lead which was quickly extended at the start of the second half as Calderwood clinched his hat trick.

Four minutes later, his Leeds teammate Burrows followed suit.

England now face Ireland in the final at Warrington on Sunday.