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Ex-St Helens man Jon Wilkin believes win over PNG vindicated bold Shaun Wane selection decision

St Helens star Tommy Makinson stole the show tonight with five tries and five goals as England ploughed through Papua New Guinea 46-6 thanks to a fantastic first half that saw England lead 38-0 at the break with Makinson grabbing a first half hat-trick.

The haul of five tries saw Makinson make history topping the efforts of some amazing England wingers of the past who were never able to score five in one game for England.

But after the game talking to BBC, Makinson rejected that he could ever be considered higher than them: “I might be higher on them on a list but never ever above them as players. That’s what you want to do, you want to do something special, five tries is good but I want to be a World Cup winner at the end of the day.”

After hearing this, Wilkin said he deserves the history and believed he and Dom Young showed why they were picked ahead of Ryan Hall today: “He was very reluctant to accept the history making tag of scoring five tries, but he deserves it.

“There were question marks over Ryan Hall, Tommy Makinson and Dom Young. I think Dom Young and Tommy Makinson have shown why they are in the team today.”

Meanwhile, Leeds Rhinos legend Jamie Peacock praised the humbleness in the side in general: “I think there is a real humbleness in the side, I think that first 30 minutes was built on a tremendous effort.”

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