GEORGE SHOWS HE’S THE CHIEF
GEORGE WILLIAMS insists his England team-mates make him look good but there is no doubt he has got his mojo back.
Warrington’s half-back endured a torrid time in club colours this year, misfiring as badly as the St James’ Park PA system that blew to ruin Saturday’s World Cup opening ceremony.
But England coach Shaun Wane, right, never lost faith in the playmaker he helped developed at Wigan.
Even though Kaiser Chiefs’ pre-match show was cut short by those technical gremlins, dynamic Williams made sure the party got going with the underdogs’ brilliant 10-try rout of much-fancied Samoa.
He scored one try, created two more and, when he was not running into the heart of freaked-out opponents, he was putting on a kicking show.
Williams said: “It helps when our middles lay the platform like they did and I can just play my own game. We’ve some classy backs. I just feed them the ball and they make me look good.
“The most impressive part was they only scored one try and that was an interception.”
His partner-in-crime was Jack Welsby, the St Helens utility who opened the scoring when supporting Williams’ burst. His passing quality set up flying winger Dom Young for two wonderful tries before he also sentWilliams over.
Some wondered if, at just 21, Welsby would be up to starting at half in his maiden Test appearance but, preferred to Marc Sneyd, he looked like he had been playing international rugby league for years. Williams added: “There was zero doubt in my mind. We trained the last couple of weeks together and I played with him before.
“Jack’s world class. We’ve seen that with some of his passes and when he went over for the first try. We’ve a good little combination going and hopefully we can build on that.”
Wane says all those who did not play will get a run-out against France at Bolton on Saturday as England bid to edge closer to finishing top of Group A. Samoa, with seven NRL Grand Finalists, were given hope when Izack Tago picked off Welsby’s pass to make it 18-6 at the break.
But they suffered three injuries and were shambolic in the second half, conceding six tries in the final 16 minutes following Anthony Milford’s sin-binning.
With Aussie loose-forward Victor Radley immense, England roared home to raise hopes they could become the first British side to win the World Cup in 50 years.