More to come from England, warns coach Shaun Wane

Drew Darbyshire 16 Oct 2022 10:32 AM

Jack Welsby England Shaun Wane SWpix — Photo: Will Palmer/SWpix

England coach Shaun Wane believes there’s more to come from his side after hammering fancied Samoa 60-6 in the opening game of the World Cup.

Samoa went into the game as favourites, but England made a nonsense of the underdogs tag as they ran in 10 tries in front of a 43,000-strong crowd at St James’ Park.

“Without sounding arrogant, I thought we did some really good things,” Wane said. “But I’ve got to know these players really well over the last two years and there’s improvements in us, let me tell you that.

“I don’t want to come across as arrogant or disrespectful to Samoa, but I know what these fellas can do. We did some really good things and I’m happy, but we can improve without any shadow of a doubt.

“I know nobody gave us a chance to win the game. But we’ve got a really tight group and we knew what we could do.

“We enjoyed all the negativity to be honest” – Shaun Wane

“We are just happy to do what we do and whatever people comment about us, it’s entirely up to them. I’m not on social media so I don’t hear lots of things but I knew it was quite negative about us.

“Samoa are a very good team, you look at their individuals and how many of them played in the NRL Grand Final? They are an outstanding team, there’s no question about that. Their attack wasn’t as good as what it can be but we defended well, so I can’t give the English lads enough praise today.”

England face France in their next group game at the University of Bolton Stadium on Saturday, October 22 (5pm).

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“We enjoyed all the negativity to be honest” – Shaun Wane

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