England v Samoa verdict as Shaun Wane left with huge selection headaches

England head coach Shaun Wane has been left with some major selection headaches ahead of the second and final Test versus Samoa.

Thankfully, for Wane and for England fans, they’re what you would describe as ‘good headaches to have’ but they are headaches nonetheless.

Despite the 34-18 win, Wane would characterise the performance as one that ‘wouldn’t trouble Australia’, before conceding that both staff and players know ‘what we need to fix’.

England were in control for the majority of the game and barring the loose phases of play in which they became offload heavy, they stuck to structure and strangled Samoa with Harry Smith’s kicking game one of the key assets.

Many had argued before the Test that there was a debate to be had regarding who played in the halves with Man of Steel Mikey Lewis left on the bench, however, after witnessing the balance between Williams and Smith, Wane’s decision cannot be questioned.

Although, that’s not to say there aren’t questions for the second Test at Headingley on Saturday with Wane presented with several selection headaches.

Will England make any changes for the second Test versus Samoa?

Luke Thompson

The Super League Dream Team member was suspended for the first Test with Wigan unsuccessful in challenging his ban after the Grand Final, however, he is arguably England’s best prop on current form.

Shaun Wane opted for Thompson’s teammate Ethan Havard and St Helens’ Matty Lees as his starters with Mike McMeeken and Tom Burgess off the bench and whilst Havard is certainly the least experienced of the quartet, he led the tackle count among the four.

McMeeken made a whopping 25 tackles in just 41 minutes and saw a try disallowed whilst Lees went even better and made 25 in 39 and also averaged 9.25 metres per carry. Meanwhile, the stalwart Tom Burgess played just 23 minutes. Wane will have a tough decision if he is to promote Thompson to the matchday squad, as many expect.

Junior Nsemba

Super League’s Young Player of the Year was the man who had the majority of fans most excited about, however, he found himself missing out on Sunday even though only two traditional second-rowers were named to the squad.

John Bateman and Kai Pearce-Paul both played the full 80 minutes and it seems that Nsemba could have a job dislodging the pair from their roles. As such, that might force Nsemba to compete at the prop position but at such a young age, will Wane pit him against the Samoan pack?

Moreover, we’ve already seen just how competitive it is for places among the props with Luke Thompson another to be thrown into the mix. Perhaps, fans may have to accept that this is a learning experience for Nsemba with eyes on next year’s reported Ashes tour.

Danny Walker

Shaun Wane went with the familiar Daryl Clark at nine and the St Helens man was impressive but his strengths and weaknesses overlapped a lot.

Clark would inject plenty of pace into the game as he made 83 metres on just six carries with 62 of those metres coming out of dummy-half, however, he also topped the error count along with Dom Young and Matty Ashton.

One such error saw his looping pass intercepted by Roger Tuivasa-Sheck. It was a 12-point pass that would have almost certainly led to an England try if successful but ultimately went the other way. Cutting out those sorts of errors and having a hooker that is purely a game manager as opposed to a game breaker could be something Wane looks at, and Super League Hooker of the Year Danny Walker would do exactly that.

Notable Mentions

England saw their squad cut down to just 24 players so with the matchday 17 and the three referenced above, that leaves just four other players that Wane could pick from.

Among those are forwards Chris Hill, Morgan Smithies and Ben Currie, all of whom will have a tough job dislodging a starter whilst also having to compete with Nsemba and Thompson.

Liam Marshall is the final man with the Wigan winger still uncapped but after Matty Ashton’s brilliant two-try performance, it’s hard to see a pathway for Marshall to feature on Saturday.

*Any stats referenced sourced from Stats Perform*