IT’S HALL TO PLAY FOR!
But Wane roars: We MUST do even better
GEORGE WILLIAMS helped ramp up the hype for England as they gave their World Cup dream another major boost.
The half-back suffered a dire season in a disastrous Warrington side – but on the world stage he’s unstoppable.
And with him and England in this form, fans can be excused for starting to fantasise about final glory next month.
Presuming Samoa beat part-timers Greece today, England are now in the quarter-finals to the delight of man-of-the-match Williams.
He said: “We’re really happy to be in the quarters but we just keep trying to get better each week.”
Unlike the one-sided romp against Samoa last week, England were given a scare at times by France.
But Williams believes the tough game will only help them, and said:
“We did start really well but they came back at us and put us in a tough spot.
“We got a roasting at half-time but finished strongly. It was far from a perfect performance but we won and that’s the most important thing.” Hard-to-please coach Shaun Wane said: “I know they can do better and they have to do better because some things were just not good enough.
“We did some really good things too – but it was just not consistently enough. Without a shadow of a doubt we will improve.”
England, who brought in five players that didn’t appear in the 60-6 rout of Samoa, started on fire. Record try-scorer Ryan Hall clearly looked in the mood to show Wane why he didn’t want to be overlooked again.
The winger, who replaced Tommy Makinson, raced in for his 36th try in 39 England appearances after six minutes.
He did not have a lot to do thanks to the good work in the build-up by Williams, Sam Tomkins, Chris Hill and Marc Sneyd.
But Hall won’t care and he was gifted another easy
walk-in minutes later on the back of a cut-out pass by Williams and quick hands by Herbie Farnworth.
And when Luke Thompson went in after a break by Victor Radley, with Sneyd adding his third conversion, England looked on easy street.
But, unlike in their ruthless approach against Samoa, England then started to sit back – and paid the price.
Arthur Mourgue underlined his growing reputation on the world stage by touching down his own grubber kick and then adding the conversion.
England looked stunned but worse was to come with
France striking again four minutes later through Eloi Pelissier from dummy half.
The huge momentum shift saw France go in at halftime the happier side, despite being six points adrift.
Wane, right, never one to pull punches, clearly gave his side a rocket and they came out for the second half in mean mood.
A roving run from John Bateman sent Elliott Whitehead over within five minutes and a deft kick by new-boy Andy Ackers gifted another try for Radley.
The renewed spark in their bellies was lit by Jack Welsby, both the jack, and the master, of all trades.
He played half-back last week, came on as a second-half sub at full-back, and then moved to centre when Kallum Watkins went off with a head injury.
The other undoubted young star of
this England side is 6ft6in winger Dom Young, who sends a buzz through the crowd every time he explodes into action.
His two tries against
Samoa were crackers and he added more highlights to his showreel with two tries in eight minutes here.
Welsby set up his first but his second was all his own effort, as he intercepted a pass on his own 10-metre line and then turned on the after burners to give France no chance of catching him.
Arthur Romano scored a late consolation to the delight of coach Laurent Frayssinous who said: “I am proud of the effort to challenge a great England team.”
ENGLAND: Tries: Hall (2), Thompson, Whitehead, Radley, Young (2); Goals: Sneyd (7). FRANCE: Tries: Mourgue,
Pelissier, Romano;
Goals: Mourgue (3)