Sam Tomkins explains how former Wigan Warriors teammate George Williams became one of Shaun Wane’s “favourites”

A lot has been made over the number of ex-Wigan Warriors in Shaun Wane’s England squad that he worked with during his time at the DW Stadium as he won three Grand Finals and the double in 2013.

Whatever you make of this, it seems to be working with England scoring tries galore so far in the World Cup and being tipped to go all the way to the final and potentially win it by some.

One of the players who when named in the squad caused the biggest stir was George Williams after his Warrington Wolves side finished 11th. However he has shown people that he is indeed “world class” as Jon Wilkin described him.

Yes, the Wolves may have struggled, but Williams is still a class act will be at the core of their rebuild meanwhile he is at the core of England’s tournament so far. He’s been outstanding from game one and has scored two tries and was even named Man of the Match against France.

So, if you disagreed with the decision at the time you have to agree with it now and vindicates Wane’s trust in the halfback.

Talking on BBC now, his skipper and former Wigan teammate Sam Tomkins explained how Williams became one of Wane’s favourites: “He’s one of Waney’s favourites but he didn’t give him an easy time to get to that point.

“When we were younger and at Wigan Shaun would always be into him about what he was doing on his days off, ‘don’t be a rock star, make sure you use your days to recover and get ready to play.

“George has taken that on. Although he is one of Waney’s favourites, he didn’t give him an easy time at the start.”

After yesterday’s game, Shaun Wane was speaking to the press and noted how Williams understands what he expects in sudden death games like what England face for the rest of the tournament: “I’m into this week when it’s sudden death. We’re going to train hard and have lots of video. Guys like George Williams have done it all before but it’s first time for Sneyd. These are the games you wait for, we have to win.”

Meanwhile, George Williams himself spoke about how much he is currently enjoying his rugby: “Yeah I am enjoying it right now, it’s been good. We’re playing well, we’re full of confidence and it’s easy for me when you’ve got the middles we’ve got.”