England’s Rugby League World Cup campaign got off to the best possible start as they produced a fantastic team display to batter a heavily fancied Samoa 60-6 at St James’ Park in Newcastle on Saturday.
Dom Young scored twice in only his second game for his country and Elliott Whitehead also grabbed a double, while Jack Welsby was influential in plenty of the bigger moments as he crossed once and teed up three more scores. The monumental win puts Shaun Wane’s men in a great position to qualify for the knockout stage as Group A winners.
England struck first when Herbie Farnworth crashed over from a grubber kick but left the ball behind, with referee Ashley Klein going back to the penalty after Anthony Milford had obstructed Elliott Whitehead. Tommy Makinson slotted over an easy kick for a two-point lead.
After Tom Burgess had lost the ball in attempting to ground it, there was a concern that England would rue their missed chances until a great piece of play between their 1, 6 and 7 final got them over. Sam Tomkins made a lateral scoot, then fed George Williams, who burst through and handed off to Welsby to sprint clear from 30 yards.
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Moments later England were in again, with Welsby’s cut-out pass finding Young. The winger still had loads to do, but he drew Joseph Suaali’i and burst inside the cover to crash over near the posts.
With a 14-0 lead, Shaun Wane’s side could have rested on their laurels but they again kept their foot on the gas. And 21-year-old Welsby was the key man once more, passing beyond Kallum Watkins to winger Young, who dived over in the smallest of spaces to give England an 18-0 advantage.
Samoa struck back almost out of nowhere as Suaali’i made the first line break of note for the visitors, teeing up the field position even after he lost possession. As England tried to clear their lines, Welsby’s pass was intercepted by Izack Tago and the Penrith centre had an easy run to the try line from halfway.
And the visitors almost had another one back when Stephen Crichton crossed on the stroke of half-time, but the centre just lost possession as he looked to ground from Anthony Milford’s grubber.
With Samoa suffering from regular losses to injury, including Braden Hamlin-Uele and Tyrone May, England made the most of the differences in energy soon after the interval. Welsby went short side from a play-the-ball close to the visitors’ line and Kallum Watkins stepped inside to create a clear run to the line, giving them a 24-6 lead.
Things went from bad to worse for Samoa when Milford’s late hit on Tomkins earned the scrum half 10 minutes in the sin bin, and Makinson’s post-assisted kick gave England a four-score buffer. Within seconds it was 32-6, with Farnworth cruising in against a stretched line for the fifth home try of the afternoon.
Whitehead made it 38-6 when he crashed through a three-man tackle on the line, then added a quickfire second when taking Makinson’s dubious inside pass to complete a long-range break.
Makinson then landed on a grubber from Williams to make it 48-6, and his superb kick from the touchline took England to the half-century mark. Williams added his own try by outstripping Samoa on the right edge and Tom Burgess barged over Milford for another, with Makinson’s 10th kick giving him a personal 24-point haul.
Next up England go to Bolton on Saturday 22nd October to entertain France, while Samoa face Greece in Doncaster the following day.
*18+ | BeGambleAware
