'That performance would not have troubled Australia'

Shaun Wane says his England team "need to be better" despite opening their two-Test series against Samoa with a 34-18 victory - saying their display "would not have troubled Australia".

The hosts dominated the early stages in Wigan and opened up a 16-0 lead but were pegged back at various stages of the contest by a new-look Samoa side containing eight debutants.

While England were exceptional at times, they conceded two interception tries and Wane was also unhappy both about their completion rate of 82% and by penalties creeping in to hand their opponents a route back into the contest.

And Wane, now in his fourth year as England head coach, suggested that his team will need to cut out unforced errors to compete with world champions Australia in the future.

"All we talk about in camp is our standards and how we want to play. We want to play an attractive brand of rugby and defend tough and we went away from that," he said.

"That performance would not have troubled Australia. We need to be better, if I am honest. We know what we need to fix as staff and players. It sounds weird saying that after a win and I don't mean it in a disrespectful way to Samoa. They will say the same thing."

While all the talk pre-match was of whether England could avenge their World Cup semi-final defeat by Samoa two years ago, Wane insisted that it was rarely mentioned in the build-up.

However, having wrapped up a 3-0 series win over Tonga 12 months ago, he is now equally keen ensure his side maintain their momentum next Saturday at Headingley (14:30 GMT), where a crowd of around 20,000 is expected.

Meanwhile, Samoa boss Ben Gardiner was delighted by the cohesiveness of his side, who had only trained together six times prior to this fixture.

However, when asked if he would have preferred a more traditional three-match format for the series, he suggested that it would have come at the detriment to his players.

"We wanted to play two Tests - and it has nothing to do with it being a best of three or anything like that. It has to do with the well-being of our players," Gardiner said.

"They have had a large and long year and I know fans want to see three games and I understand that but I think it's important we take care of their welfare.

"They have travelled all the way over to the other side of the world to put a Test match series on, and from a coach's point of view, I have to respect that and make sure they go back to their families and be ready to perform in 2025 as well.

"Otherwise, what ends up happening is we have three Test matches and we might not have any next year, and I think it's good to make sure we get a balance."