Young daring to dream after stunning England performance

Newcastle winger Dom Young is daring to dream about England winning the World Cup after a stunning performance before family and friends that exceeded his wildest expectations as the host nation thrashed Samoa 60-6.

Young scored two spectacular first half tries that helped England to an 18-0 and after the Shaun Wane-coached side piled on 36 points in the last 16 minutes he declared that they can win the World Cup.

“I think we showed in that game that we can,” Young said. “Everyone was talking about how good the Samoa team was and we put 60 points on them.

“We don’t mind being the underdogs, though. We will just turn up and go about our business each week. but we have got a great set of players and I think we can win it.”

The 21-year-old had been planning to represent his Jamaican heritage alongside brother Alex but England’s success has vindicated his decision and he is fast becoming a fan favourite during the World Cup.

Among the 43,119 crowd at Newcastle’s St James Park were Young’s grandmother and mother.

“I had quite a few family and friends come down. They don’t get an opportunity to watch me week in and week out when I am over there [in the NRL],” young said.

“That made it even more special, to put on a performance like that in front of them.

“My mum’s side of the family are from Newcastle, so it was really nice to see my grandma and my mum in the crowd today.

“Even in my wildest dreams I couldn’t have imagined that start before the game. To have my family and friends watching it live was a dream come true. I am going to remember this for the rest of my life, I think.”

Young’s first try was a stunning effort in which he stepped inside Samoa winger Habiso Tabuai-Fidow, swerved around fullback Joseph Suaalii and stepped out of an attempted tackle by centre Izack Tago.

“I got the ball in a bit of space, I looked around and there wasn’t too much around me so I just pinned the ears back and luckily I got the try,” Young said.

“To put in a performance like that when everyone was talking about Samoa before the game, and for us to come together and post a score-line like that, I couldn’t have imagined anything better.

“It feels amazing to be honest, a dream come true really.”

England coach Shaun Wane said the seven members of his squad who didn't play against Samoa will get their chance in next weekend's match against France at the University of Bolton Stadium, including John Bateman.

"I know nobody gave us a chance to win the game, but within our group there's a really tight team spirit we have, we knew how we trained and knew what we could do," Wane said.

"We enjoyed all that negativity, to be honest, so we're just happy to do what we do and whatever people comment about us, it's entirely up to them.

"Samoa are a very good team. You look at their individuals and who played in the NRL grand final, they are an outstanding team, and their attack wasn't as good as it can be, but we defended well as well."