Shaun Wane insists England display ‘wouldn’t trouble Australia’ before hinting at changes for second Test

England head coach Shaun Wane watched his side win their opening match of the series against Samoa: and insisted it was a display that ‘wouldn’t trouble’ world champions Australia.

Wane’s side were far too strong for the Samoans in Wigan on Sunday afternoon, scoring six tries to claim a commanding and comfortable 34-18 win at the Brick Community Stadium.

But Wane, as ultra-demanding as ever, suggested his England side have a way to go to put together a performance that would give the Kangaroos issues.

When asked to sum up his side’s performance, Wane said: “We need to be better if I’m honest. That performance wouldn’t trouble Australia.

“We know what we need to fix as a group, staff and players. It sounds weird after a result like this, and I don’t mean this in a disrespectful way to Samoa but we need to be better. They’ll say the same too. We’re looking at how we can improve.”

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Led by an imperious display from captain George Williams, England scored three tries in each half to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series ahead of next Saturday’s game in Leeds.

Wane insisted that the door was ajar for England to make a number of changes to his side for that game at Headingley, with the likes of Junior Nsemba and Liam Marshall in contention to come into the team.

Wane said of the players who were left out: “They’ve all got a chance of coming back in. I’ll have a look at the game when I get back in the hotel and make a decision on those players. It was quite a close call on some of those.”

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