Herbie dazzles in England’s thrashing of Samoa as match marred by huge all-in brawl

England has thrashed Samoa 34-18 in Wigan in the first of a two-match Test series between the two nations, which was marred by a massive second half brawl.

The game had plenty of feeling stemming from Samoa’s traditional war dance, which saw the visitors’ get right into the faces of their opponents.

If anything, that seemed to spur England on, who raced out to a 16-0 lead after 20 minutes with skipper and five-eighth George Williams scoring one and setting up another as the home side’s left edge ran roughshod.

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Samoa would hit back in the 33rd minute when Broncos flyer Deine Mariner crossed for the first of his two tries to trim the margin to 10.

NRL stars Herbie Farnworth and Victor Radley linked up for England’s fourth try in the 48th minute.

Farnworth, who was arguably the best on ground (204 metres, two tries, one try assist), made a half break close to the Samoa line before finding an open Radley with a stunning offload.

Mariner kept the visitors in it with his second try minutes later.

There was plenty of drama in the 63rd minute when a minor scuffle erupted with noted enforcers Luciano Leiulua and John Bateman in the middle of it.

When the dust settled on that brief scuffle, England flexed their muscles to score a game-sealing 71st minute try through Matty Lewis.

With the game all but over, Samoa prop Terrell May and England forward Matty Lees locked heads with May wrestling Lees to the ground. That started an all-in brawl which involved nearly all of the players on the field at the time.

That sets up what should be a fiery second Test at Headingley.

Despite the victory, England coach Shaun Wane believes there is plenty his side need to work on ahead of the second Test.

“We need to be better than that,” said Wane.

“That performance wouldn’t trouble Australia. We know what we need to fix as a group. I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way to Samoa, but we need to be better.”

Samoa coach Ben Gardiner says his side will be much better for the run.

“I felt that we didn’t take our opportunities when we needed to. We did a much better job in the second half and put more pressure on,” he said.

“For us, it’s about learning lessons, controlling the momentum for longer, putting it deeper into the corner and being able to control the middle parts of the sets.”