Marc Sneyd hopes to force way into England line-up for World Cup opener

Sneyd kicked seven of his eight conversion attempts against Fiji

Marc Sneyd is waiting anxiously to discover if he has a place in England side to face Samoa (Martin Rickett/PA) (PA Wire)

Marc Sneyd says he has done all he can as he waits anxiously to see if his impressive first appearance for England will be enough to earn a spot in the World Cup opener against Samoa in Newcastle on Saturday.

The Salford scrum-half produced a polished tactical kicking display and succeeded with seven of his eight conversion attempts to help England to a 50-0 rout of Fiji in their warm-up match on his home ground at the AJ Bell Stadium on Friday night.

“I’ve done all I can to this point” Sneyd said. “We’ll see what happens towards the end of the week.”

Sneyd caught the eye playing alongside acting captain George Williams but England coach Shaun Wane may opt to switch the versatile Jack Welsby into the halves after he deputised at full-back for a rested Sam Tomkins against Fiji.

Williams is a shoe-in for one of the half-back spots and Sneyd believes their partnership could flourish after a promising start.

“He’s obviously an incredible player,” Sneyd said. “There were a few scratchy areas, which is going to happen with two half-backs when you’ve not played together, but I think for our first hit-out hopefully it went well enough.

“I was obviously chuffed to bits making my debut, over the moon, but more importantly I performed well and I think everybody performed pretty well and we’ve put ourselves in the right direction for the World Cup.

“It’s my first experience of it but all the lads have been incredible, as you’d expect. I’ve kind of settled in there now and I’m looking forward to what happens over the next couple of months.

“We’ve got players here that can do something special.”

Williams was encouraged by his partnership with Sneyd, saying: “It was really good.

“We had a couple of sets when we went a bit astray but, considering we’d never played together, we got around the park pretty well.

“His kicking game is probably the best in the comp and he did that well. He showed a few nice touches and got us out of yardage a couple of times.”

Sneyd admitted the wet conditions on Friday night played into his hands as he kept Fiji pinned back in their own half with his clever kicking game.

“Potentially a little bit maybe as a kicker and an out-of-hand kicker especially,” he said.

“When the pitch is very wet, you feel you can control a game a lot better. It probably doesn’t make for the most exciting and entertaining game but, as far as kicking goes, it definitely worked out well.”

So if he is selected to face Samoa at St James’ Park, will Sneyd be praying for rain in the north-east?

“Yes and no,” he said. “Obviously it’s a lot easier to control the ball in your hands when it’s not wet but, when it’s wet, you can kick for fun.”