England's NRL stars went forehead-to-forehead with their Samoa counterparts in a dramatic pre-match challenge before their own Australian-based luminaries helped crush Jarome Luai's visitors 34-18 in a feisty first Test in Wigan.
The Samoans' traditional pre-match Siva Tau war dance on Sunday set the tone as they advanced right up to their English adversaries, with England's 'Man of Steel' Mikey Lewis and Samoa's interchange Gordon Chan Kum Tong even ending the challenge with heads clashing.
But a Samoan side packed with NRL talent didn't have the discipline to match their fire as England capitalised on a fast start to run in six tries, including one each for the outstanding pair of Dolphins' Herbie Farnworth and Roosters' Victor Radley, amid a ruthless showing.
Approaching the end, having been well beaten despite a couple of tries for Deine Mariner and another by Chan Kum Tong, the game descended briefly into a brawl featuring almost all the 26 players.
It demonstrated the Samoans will have plenty of fight left in them when the teams meet again in six days' time at Headingley in Leeds, but Luai's team, featuring eight debutants, need to be much sharper and cohesive to challenge a well-drilled home side.
Still, though, England coach Shaun Wane reckoned his side needed to improve.
"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.
Following a horror start, Samoa were much more competitive after half-time but England, featuring nine who'd played in their World Cup golden-point loss at the Emirates Stadium in 2022, seemed the hungrier outfit in front of a crowd of 15,000 at Wigan's Brick Community Stadium.
Constantly infringing in the ruck early, Samoa were soon on the backfoot when Williams put Farnworth over for the first score after seven minutes, before the Warrington playmaker then sent his clubmate Ashton in for a second.
When Williams went over for the third himself after 20 minutes, there was a fear Samoa would be blown away, but they got a gift in the 33rd minute when Daryl Clark's loose pass enabled Broncos' Mariner to intercept for a long-range score.
Gradually warming to their task after the break, Samoa still couldn't halt a brilliant combination between Farnworth and Radley as England stretched away.
But Luai conjured up a touch of quality to set Mariner free to go over on the diagonal for his second to keep England honest.
It was not enough, Ashton and Lewis - a late substitute for Clark and employed in an unfamiliar role at hooker - both scoring again before Chan Kum Tong's consolation.
Samoa coach Ben Gardiner shrugged: "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.
"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."
With PA
