Dom Young is loving every minute of his fledging England career as he continues to set the World Cup alight.
The 21-year-old Yorkshireman was a late call-up by England after switching his allegiance from World Cup debutants Jamaica, but has seized his opportunity to such an extent that he has already been compared with all-time great winger Martin Offiah.
Young equalled England’s joint record for tries in a match held by Offiah when he went over for the fourth time in Saturday’s record 94-4 win over Greece at Bramall Lane to go top of the tournament standings.
All Young’s tries came before half-time when he was on course to break the World Cup record of six set by Australia’s Valentine Holmes against Fiji in 2017, but he failed to get on the scoreboard in the second half.
“I was a little disappointed about that, the ball didn’t come my way like it did in the first half, but that’s alright, I’ll take four,” he said.
“I didn’t know about the record but I am proud every time I put the shirt on and to make history I guess is pretty special.”
With Tom Makinson set to occupy the left wing spot in next Saturday’s quarter-final after deputising for Sam Tomkins at full-back against Greece, coach Shaun Wane will have to choose between Young and veteran Ryan Hall for the other flank.
Hall, 34, scored twice to take his take his remarkable tally for England to 39 in 40 appearances and give Wane a reminder of his ability.
Young, who scored two tries in both his first appearances against Samoa and France, was grateful to keep his spot on Saturday and is hoping he has done enough to stay in the team for the business end of the tournament.
“I’m ready to go every week,” he said. “I didn’t want to be rested so I’m happy I got out there today.
Hopefully I've done enough, I tried leaving it all out on the pitch in each game. I probably couldn't have expected it to go the way it has but I'm loving every minute of it
“Hopefully I’ve done enough. I tried leaving it all out on the pitch in each game. I probably couldn’t have expected it to go the way it has but I’m loving every minute of it.
“Every time everyone has played, they’ve given a good account of themselves. Everyone wants to be in that 17, there’s a lot of competition for places and I think that’s why we’ve been playing so well.”
After running in 102 points in their first two games, Wane’s men continued on their merry way with a 17-try thrashing of the largely part-time Greeks but Young knows the hard work starts now.
“It was good today,” he said. “The calls were really good and Greece kept coming, they didn’t give in.
“It’s about building that momentum now. We’ve played well each game in the group and it’s taking that into the bigger games, the knockout games.
“If we keep doing that and keep building on what we’ve been doing, we can get to that final.
“It’ going to be a big step up. If it’s PNG, they’re a great team and they’re going to come out firing. We need the fans to come out in Wigan.”
