Best one: Young England flyer can dominate World Cup

“His size and speed make him one of the best players in the game.”

England have a new superstar winger, described by evening captain George Williams as “an unbelievable monster”.

Dom Young made his international debut by destroying Fiji in Salford as Shaun Vane’s side thrashed a helpless opposition 50-0 in their only World Cup warm-up game, scoring nine tries with nine different goalscorers.

The 1m80 youngster was in the thick of the action, with a flying finish and a disastrous break to send Williams to another. Two more acrobatic efforts from the 21-year-old were ignored in a promising partnership with Salford center Callum Watkins to disastrous effect.

“I loved being on the pitch,” Young told Lesport24. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been in front of the England fans and my family.

“Me and Kall had a bit of space on the right side and we took advantage of it. Playing away from a classy player like him makes me better, I love playing away from him and hopefully we can build on that when the World Cup starts next week.

Young was born in Huddersfield but only played twice for the Giants before being signed by the NRL’s Newcastle Knights. He has scored 14 tries in 20 games this season in rugby’s premier domestic competition. The format turned out to be his proposed participation of a small country, Jamaica, in the World Cup, inviting England. England’s call came so late that Jamaica had already ordered and allocated their kit to Young.

“Fiji are big and we knew they were going to attack, but we did a good job, we were very accurate,” he said, referring to Van’s chosen opponent to represent England’s top first World Cup opponents Samoa next weekend.

“Shawn told us he wanted to see what the boys meant when they put the jersey on. Aggression and desire and what it means.

“We haven’t been together very long and that’s how you build your game when new additions come in. That’s what he wanted to see and that’s what he saw.

“I think he’ll be happy and we’re certainly happy with the result. I’m really excited about facing Samoa. It’s exciting to open the World Cup in front of our home crowd in Newcastle so I’m looking forward to that.

Another NRL star Tom Burgess produced a powerful performance in the back and England crushed a half-dozen injury-ravaged Fiji in next Saturday’s tournament opener against defending champions Australia.

“Venie will be happy for them to stop playing,” the South Sydney star said.
“We had to put our shoulder to the wheel defensively and it was a good thing we kept them in check.

“I’ve seen a lot of Dom Young this year and he’s had a good season in the NRL. His size and pace make him one of the best players in the game, he’s young and he’s chased a lot of us when we’ve played against them this year. He’s a good optimist and I think he’s a good English player. Good to see in Jersey.

Head coach Vane says he has an opening 13 in mind for the game against Samoa at St James’ Park, but on the face of it he says he has some tough decisions to make.

Young is already a threat and is sure to keep his spot on a wing. On the other hand, veteran Ryan Hall cemented his status as the nation’s leading scorer with another touchdown against Fiji. So it must have been a tough evening for St Helens winger Tommy Makinson, who a month ago would have been the first winger on the scoresheet.

“I think we did some good things, our offense was pretty spread out,” Wayne said.

“Dom Young and Kallum Watkins looked like they had been playing together for years. They were exceptional.”

Vane also has a decision to make in the half of the pitch. Scrum-half Mark Sneyd has been impressed back into his footing, but captain Sam Tomkins is certain to return to the full-back position. That would allow Young Player of the Year Jake Welsby to move into the halfback position, with Snide’s position most at risk.

At Hooker, another rookie excelled, Andy Akers rewarded Vane’s faith with a routine performance. In the front row, veteran Chris Hill was installed alongside Mike Cooper, while Mikolaj Oletski was rested. And barring injuries, Vane has plenty of options to give England the proper start they need for the tournament.

*18+ BeGambleAware odds are subject to change