Shaun Wane reflects on England's dominant victory over Samoa in the Rugby League World Cup opener

Shaun Wane says England are still capable of making plenty of improvements following their dominant display against Samoa in Newcastle.
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His side kicked off the Rugby League World Cup with a 60-6 victory at St James’ Park.

Wane states his side embraced being seen as underdogs heading into the game.

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

Shaun WaneShaun Wane
Shaun Wane

"We can improve, without any shadow of a doubt in my mind.

"I know nobody gave us a chance to win the game, but in our group we have a really tight team spirit.

"We knew what we could do, so we enjoyed that negativity.

"Whatever people comment about us, it’s entirely up to them.

"Samoa are a very good team, no question about that.

"I can’t give our lads enough praise today.

"(The result) meant a great deal. I’m just really pleased for the players because of how they’ve adapted.

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"They’ve had a lot of information, and we’ve had some bad phone calls over the years.

“Seeing Sam (Tomkins) lead them out, I got so much satisfaction from that.”

Wane says he will make some changes to his team for England’s next game against France.

"We’ve got no injuries,” he added.

"The players that didn’t play today will play against France.

"It was a tough week for me leaving those players out. We’ve Micky (Oledzki) coming back, John Bateman, Marc Sneyd, Andy Ackers.

"It’s going to be a strong team.”