Marc Sneyd hopes he has done enough to secure a place in the England team for this Saturday’s World Cup opener against Samoa.
The Salford Red Devils halfback earned a first international call-up ahead of the tournament and made his England debut in Friday’s warm-up match against Fiji, which the hosts won 50-0.
Sneyd used the wet conditions on his home ground to good effect, controlling play and regularly challenging the Fijian defence, while successfully scoring seven conversion attempts out of eight.
“I was chuffed to bits to make my debut , but more importantly I think I performed pretty well,” said the 31-year-old, who was repeatedly rebuffed by England during his best years at Hull FC but finally got the nod after starring in his first year back at Salford.
“I hope (I’ve done enough to play Samoa). Obviously, I’ve done all I can now. We’ll see what happens come next week.”
England coach Shaun Wane said that Sneyd’s ability in wet conditions played a part in his initial selection.
“Marc’s got probably the best kicking game in the competition and we’re playing in October and November when it’s going to be wet,” said Wane after revealing his squad.
George Williams, who stood in as captain against Fiji, concurred that Sneyd’s kicking is “probably the best in the comp”.
But Sneyd is less sure he has any edge on his two likely rivals for the halfback shirts.
He said: There are a lot of good kickers in there. Jack Welsby is incredible; he’s got a great short kicking game. George is exactly the same, he can kick out of the hand as good as anybody in the league.”
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