Match Report: England 48-14 Samoa

Just one minute and forty-three seconds had elapsed before England began the march towards their latest victory at an expectant Twickenham.

A win which was both predicted and predictable as Eddies Jones' side, despite a few stumbles along the way, ultimately ran amok to finish 2017 on a high.

It was a third triumph from three during their Old Mutual Wealth Series campaign following victories over Argentina and Australia.

Moreover, this seven-try romp marked a 22nd win from 23 Test matches since Jones took charge two years ago.

Jones rang the changes in his team but it did not matter against a Samoa side who have not won a Test match this calendar year.

The tourists lost to Romania last week and, while their spirit could not be faulted, England had far too much class and Wasps star Elliot Daly was particularly impressive with a superb brace.

Overall, it was not the most fluent of performances at times but it was still more than good enough to keep the Red Rose bandwagon rolling.

The reservoir of talent within Jones’ squad certainly runs deep right now and tries from Mike Brown, Alex Lozowski, Charlie Ewels, Daly (two), Henry Slade and Semesi Rokoduguni did for the Samoans.

The England boss made a raft of changes from last week’s win over the Wallabies, with captain Dylan Hartley dropping to the bench as Jamie George made his first start.

Hartley was joined among the replacements by 19-year-old lock Nick Isiekwe and back Piers Francis.

Exeter number eight Sam Simmonds made a starting debut for his country, while Owen Farrell was again rested with Lozowski paired at centre with Slade.

Maro Itoje started for the first time this autumn, and was deployed alongside Chris Robshaw and Simmonds in the back row.

Following his match-winning cameo against Australia, Danny Care began at scrum-half while Brown returned from concussion to line up at full-back.

At 32, Brown was the oldest player in the England side and he marked his comeback with a well-taken try inside the left channel in the second minute from Itoje’s offload.

That gave England a perfect platform on which to build and they soon had a second try as Daly and George combined to send Lozowski scampering under the posts for his first international try.

Credit to Samoa, though.

They hit back in the 14th minute when Piula Fa'asalele found hooker Motu Matu'u with a neat offload before getting the ball back and powering over the line.

But England grabbed their third score on the half hour when Ewels collected a smart pass from Care to claim his second try for England.

George Ford’s second conversion made it 22-7 at the break, but it was hardly the fluency that Jones was looking for.

There was also concern when forward Joe Launchbury was forced off with a suspected shoulder injury.

Seven minutes after the restart, Leicester winger Jonny May was withdrawn to undergo a head injury assessment, with Rokoduguni on to replace him.

In the 61st minute, England finally claimed their first try of the second half as Daly streaked through the Samoa defence to touch down.

Piula Fa'asalele was then sinbinned for coming in at the side and Samoa were immediately punished as Ben Youngs, impressive off the bench, found Slade and he sauntered over the line.

Chris Vui then bagged his first international try for Samoa but England finished with a flourish as Daly outpaced the Samoan defence to score his second with a brilliant effort.

Rokoduguni got in on the act late on after a fine assist from Slade.

Job done.

England can now look forward to 2018 with huge optimism as the World Cup in Japan in two years’ time gradually comes into focus.