England coach Shaun Wane confirms Leeds Rhinos star Mikolaj Oledzki will play in World Cup clash v France

Wane said players not involved in England’s 60-6 win over Samoa in the opening game of the tournament will be selected next Saturday.

Oledzki was a controversial omission for England’s first game and Wane admitted he’d had to make some difficult decisions, but his selection paid off in spectacular style as the hosts ran in 10 tries.

Former Leeds winger Ryan Hall was another player who missed out in Newcastle, but Wane stressed: “We’ve no new injuries and the players who didn’t play [against Samoa] will play against France.

“It was a very tough week for me, leaving those players out. There were some very tough calls, but I have got Mik Oledzki coming back and people like John Bateman and Marc Sneyd and Andy Ackers. It is going to be strong against France, all of them will play.”

England will be expected to cruise past France and their final group opponents Greece, but Wane stressed they won’t take either side lightly.

They are now set to avoid Tonga in the quarter-finals, but Wane said: “France are a good team, they are well coached and they will get the respect they deserve from us.

“We have to get better, we will improve. We will have a good week this week and get ready for France.

“We have to train well, we’ll have a really good review and then we’re on to France - that’s as far as I am looking. We’re not looking to avoid anybody, I want to beat France and Greece, we have to win.”

England dominated Samoa throughout, but Wane insisted they can get better. He said: “I thought we did some really, really good things, but I have got to know these players really well over the last two years and there’s improvements in us, no question.”

Wane stressed: “I don’t want to come across as arrogant or disrespect Samoa, but I know what these fellas can do.

“I am really happy, but we can improve - without any shadow of a doubt in my mind.”

Samoa went into the game as the bookies’ favourites and Wane added: “I know nobody gave us a chance to win the game, but within our group we have a really tight team spirit.

“We knew how we had trained and what we could do. We enjoyed all that negativity, to be honest.

“We are just happy to do what we do and whatever people comment about us, that’s entirely up to them.

“Samoa are a very good team, no question about that. Their attack wasn’t as good as it can be, but we defended well as well. I can’t give our lads enough praise.”

England captain Sam Tomkins hailed a “very good performance”, but also believes they can play better.

He said: “Even walking around afterwards, clapping the fans, George Williams was into me saying ‘we can do this better’ and ‘we can do that better’.

“We understand we didn’t see the best Samoa team, but we did plenty of good things. Am hoping the review will be positive, but that’s never a given with Shaun.”