Tony Smith likens England game to a training session as he calls for France to “help themselves”

On Saturday England battered France 64-0 in their first game since World Cup semi-final heartache.

It was a near perfect display as Leeds Rhinos star Ash Handley and Warrington Wolves star and recently appointed England captain George Williams scored hat-tricks meanwhile England only missed one tackle all game.

Asked if coaches ever see a performance as perfect, Hull FC boss and former England coach Tony Smith gave his assessment of the display likening it to a training session as he called for France to help themselves.

“Rarely do you get a perfect performance but you just want to practice what you do. This was a great practice on a competitive stage,” he said on Sky Sports.

“I feel for the French. They have to help themselves soon and go to themselves ‘we have to stop this from happening year on year’ and hopefully they get that message back there and get that development more and more.

“There are good things happening but they need to speed things up also.”

Smith took England to the World Cup semi-finals himself in 2008 down under.

In fact the only final England have reached in recent times was their 2017 Final defeat 6-0 to Australia.

Shaun Wane is looking to change that and Saturday’s win, no matter the opposition, was the first step towards doing so.