NEW ZEALAND centre Steve Matai has been cleared of a serious neck injury and could play in Saturday's World Cup semi-final in Brisbane.

Kiwis medical staff feared a potential spinal fracture after Matai's head collided with teammate Greg Eastwood in a tackle during their win over England in their final pool match in Newcastle on Saturday night.

The 24-year-old reported a searing pain down his right arm and was taken to hospital where he underwent X-rays and CT scans, which both cleared him of serious injury.

Matai was discharged yesterday and rushed to Newcastle airport to join his teammates on their flight to Brisbane, where he will undergo an MRI to check for any disc damage.

If the MRI is clear and Matai suffers no further symptoms during the week he may be considered for the semi-final.

"They were satisfied there was no instability and no fracture, and he was discharged on the condition we get an MRI scan in Brisbane," Kiwis doctor Simon Mayhew said. "He's still pretty sore and the MRI scan will have to be normal and he'll have to be symptom-free to play but he's a happy boy, very pleased with the news."

It was NRL grand final-winner Matai's first game back from a one-match ban for a high tackle on Australia's Paul Gallen in their tournament opener.

Matai's injury silenced the crowd of 15,145 at EnergyAustralia Stadium as play was held up for several minutes to place him in a neck brace and strap him onto a stretcher.

Mayhew said Matai, who has defied a painful shoulder injury for most of the year, wanted to play on but the searing pain in the arm and localised pain in his neck sounded the alarm bells.

The Kiwis head to Brisbane without other serious injuries and buoyed by their come-from-behind win over likely semi-final opponents England.

Winger Manu Vatuvei bagged four tries - equalling the World Cup record - and looms as a major danger man next week. The 112kg giant, known as "The Beast", is confident he can keep his strong form going for the rest of the tournament.

"I'm pretty happy that I scored those four tries and I'll remember those all my life," Vatuvei said, before emphasising his new-found consistency: "I've got to take it on for next week - I can't have a good game this week and not show up next week. Hopefully I do well next week and do the same thing."

Vatuvei laughed at a suggestion the English wingers would be praying not to be marking him on Saturday.

"He'll [Vatuvei's opposite winger] have some things on his mind but he'll come out there and do his best," he said. "I think [Ade] Gardner's going to be out there and I know he's a really good player."

While the English faded horribly in Newcastle and the Kiwis finished with a spring in their step, New Zealand coach Stephen Kearney tempered the notion of already having one foot in the November 22 final.

"That second-half performance certainly showed what we are capable of," he said. "Next week's totally different, there are a number of players who didn't play tonight for England who are key players.

"The pleasing thing for me was the defence which was basically my half-time talk, about how poor our defence was in that first half. It didn't worry me, the scoreline, it was a matter of making sure we fixed up our defence and I thought we did that really well."

Stand-in skipper Benji Marshall, who said he was emotional leading his country for the first time, also emphasised England's decision to rest five-eighth Leon Pryce, hooker James Roby, prop James Graham, utility Danny McGuire and Gardner.

Though New Zealand will likely bring back Nathan Cayless, Setaimata Sa, Sika Manu, Sam Rapira and Sam Perrett, England's returnees are more crucial and will improve them significantly.

"They had a lot of players out," Marshall said. "I think if we can take anything out of the game, we learn a valuable lesson that if we don't turn up to play in the first half with the right attitude then things can go wrong for us."

With AAP