Addo-Carr gets five as 'Roos thump Lebanon

Josh Addo-Carr warmed up for the business end of the Rugby League World Cup by grabbing five tries en route to a quarter-final thrashing of Lebanon.

The 48-4 victory puts the Kangaroos on a collision course with the winner of the quarter-final between New Zealand and Fiji at Leeds' Elland Road next week.

Captain James Tedesco was taken off at half-time with a cork but he, Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Ben Hunt are expected to be fit for the semi-final.

Addo-Carr has been the star of this year's World Cup and his 11 tries in three games has him three ahead of England winger Dominic Young in the race to finish as the competition's top try scorer.

Canterbury's Addo-Carr had a hat-trick by the 20-minute mark in Huddersfield and added two more to the delight of the 8,206 fans at the John Smith's Stadium after half-time.

"He's been terrific for us, not only on the field but off it," said Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga.

"He's great to be around, he does what he needs to do which is score tries.

"He's had an up-and-down year but the real 'Foxx' is out at the moment."

Addo-Carr's 11-try haul for the tournament is one off the record set by Valentine Holmes at the 2017 edition and begs the question why he was left out of the NSW State of Origin side earlier this year.

"I've moved on from it, Origin wasn't my time, I'm really grateful for the opportunity Mal and the coaching staff have given me," Addo-Carr said.

"I'm enjoying my footy at the moment, I feel we've got something special coming into camp, I've felt the bond and I'm just loving every minute."

Addo-Carr's early hat-trick put a dampener on the mood in Huddersfield with many hopeful of seeing Lebanon at least challenge the Kangaroos.

The Australians will face a tougher test next week but Lebanon would have felt they didn't give the best account of themselves after winning plaudits for their enterprising and daring play.

"The performance tonight was below our expectation, particularly in the first half," said Cedars coach Michael Cheika. 

"We got blown away by the physicality of the game, they ran hard at us and we couldn't handle them."

Along with a first-half try to centre Latrell Mitchell and a double to Cameron Murray, the Kangaroos were firmly in control of the game at half-time with a 30-0 lead.

Daly Cherry-Evans, who lost out to Nathan Cleary in the race to become the team's halfback, was thrust into the action after Tedesco was put on ice.

Cameron Munster reverted to fullback and his failure to clear a grubber kick to the in-goal allowed the Lebanese to score their only try of the night through Josh Mansour.

But tries from Martin and Addo-Carr ensured Australia reasserted their dominance to set up a semi-final with the Kiwis their most likely opponents.