Dom-ination: Young, Radley star on debut as England put 60 on Samoa in World Cup opener

England have kicked off the Rugby League World Cup in style, dominating Samoa to win 60-6 in front of a packed St James’ Park in Newcastle, with Dom Young grabbing a double, Roosters lock Victor Radley starred in his Test debut and Jack Welsby announcing himself on the international stage.

The Newcastle winger was all set to play for Jamaica until recently, but doubled down on his superb debut last week against Fiji with another brace in the tournament opener, while his young teammate, St Helens five-eighth Welsby, grabbed a hat-trick of try assists as England swept Samoa aside.

Radley controversially opted to represent his father’s homeland after being a fringe NSW candidate this year but was rewarded with the man of the match award for a typically bruising performance.

It’s hard to call it an upset – England, after all, have home advantage and have never lost to Samoa – but it certainly went against the bookies’ expectations. Nobody saw the extent of the battering.

England were superb, winning the game early in the collision and then cashing in late as Samoa tired and lost troops. Though it took them 20 minutes to score, it seemed inevitable that they would eventually run out comfortable winners.

“We won’t get carried way, it’s not the English way,” coach Shaun Wane said. “We have to get better and we will.

“I know nobody gave us a chance but we knew what we could do. We enjoyed all that negativity to be honest.”

Radley was modest about his performance.

“I’m not sure how i got the man of the match – I’m a bit embarrassed but I’m really stoked, this was really enjoyable,” said Radley. “I didn’t feel like an underdog myself, I didn’t read any media or anything like that, I didn’t think we were the underdogs – and I think we showed it.”

Not everything went swimmingly: the PA system broke during the pre-match entertainment and the world feed went down in the second half, robbing Australian viewers of pictures for much of the game.

On the park and in the stadium, England were near perfect. Their back five excelled, utterly dominating a larger Samoan side. Young and Kallum Watkins carried with vigour and, off the back off fast rucks, Welsby and George Williams ran the show.

Samoa had too many errors and too little direction. Their backs and forwards might be superb, but the lack of nous on display from Jarome Luai and Anthony Milford was clear for all to see.

Joseph Suaalii might be an exceptional talent, but on the evidence of this outing, he is not yet a fullback. For all of his hard carries and metres, there were too many errors and poor defensive moments.

(Photo by Charlotte Tattersall/Getty Images for RLWC)

The rigours of international tournament footy seem likely to catch up, too. Braden Hamlin-Uele, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Tyrone May all left with injuries, leaving Samoa to play the majority of the second half with one interchange and serious doubts going into their games with France and Greece.

They’ll likely miss Milford, too, as he was binned for a late hit on Sam Tomkins and could be banned for the cheap shot.

Samoa coach Matt Parish had said in the build up that his men might come in undercooked, and it was hard to argue against that early on.

England’s first try was emblematic of the first 20 minutes, for both sides. Samoa kicked poorly, offering no last tackle threat. Tommy Makinson caught the ball a yard from his line, but within two tackles, England were at the halfway line off the back of strong outside back carries.

The triumvirate of Tomkins from dummy half to Williams through the middle and finally Welsby in support delivered the ball to the line.

Moments later, it got even better for the hosts. Welsby was crucial again, with a superb cutout pass that got Dom Young free on the wing. He burned Suaalii to score from range.

The left edge kept firing. Welsby completed a dream ten minutes by throwing an identical pass to Young for a more routine finish. He got greedy, however, and gifted Samoa their first try with a pass that was easily picked off by Izack Tago.

(Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images for RLWC)

Toa Samoa had been comfortably second best, but nearly drew even closer. Suaalii was denied by a trysaver from Herbie Farnworth and, from the next play, Stephen Crichton failed to ground an Milford kick. 18-6 at the break, if anything, flattered Samoa.

After a Suaalii error from the back – his debut as a fullback was less than successful – England capitalised. Again, it was on the left, and again it was a short side play, though this time they did not have to go all the way to Young, with Watkins dummying to score himself.

It continued to slide. Milford was binned for a late hit on Tomkins, born from pure frustration, allowing Makins to twist the knife further with a penalty goal.

With Samoa’s backline shot, Herbie Farnworth was able to grab his first England try, with Elliott Whitehead following him in twice, the first from short range and the second from long, after yet more excellent work from Williams.

The Warrington halfback was at it again moments later, producing a deft kick for Makinson, who raised the 50 from the sideline, before scoring one himself to complete the rout.