England's warm-up for three-Test series against New Zealand shines harsh light on France

England won by a record 84-4 at the Leigh Sports Village, but such was the standard of the opposition that it was not possible to get too excited by the scoreline

John Bateman powers over for England’s sixth try (Reuters)

A match that was meant to show the England coach, Steve McNamara, his resources for next month’s three-Test series against New Zealand succeeded instead in casting a merciless light on the state of French rugby league.

England won by a record 84-4 at the Leigh Sports Village on Saturday, but such was the standard of the opposition that it was not possible to get too excited by the scoreline.

Sam Burgess watched from the seat next to McNamara as his younger brother, Tom, scored one of England’s 15 tries. There was none of the intensity, however, that makes for a big sporting occasion.

The France coach, Richard Agar, estimated that he had 14 players missing and that half his team had therefore been part-timers. That made it inevitable, he said, that they were going to be on the receiving end of a flogging.

Part of the rationale behind admitting the Catalan Dragons to Super League 12 years ago was that they would lift the standard of the game in France. This was a salutary reminder of how badly they have failed to do so.

The Dragons are generally competitive and the best French players are as good as anything in Super League, but as soon as you scratch the surface you find that there is very little quality below that elite.

Still, all England could do was beat the opposition put in front of them convincingly and this they did with some relish, leaving McNamara adamant that he had learnt plenty from this exercise.

Top of the list of those who did themselves some good at Leigh must be John Bateman. The form player of the second half of the Super League season, he carried that into the international arena as though he was born to play there.

Although he has played mainly on the right at Wigan, as a centre and a second-rower, he was hugely effective in this game at left centre. McNamara was still coach at Bradford when Bateman arrived as a 16-year-old. “For me, he was always a left-sided player,” he said, “and I never had him down as a centre.”

Now, though, his versatility makes McNamara’s selection options considerably more flexible. The one certainty is that he will be among the first inked in for the opening Test against New Zealand at Hull next Sunday.

Other notable contributions included a second-half hat-trick of tries from Brett Ferres. His value as a wild card, dropped into the game when it starts to open up, will assure him of a place on the bench at least.

The half-back combination of Gareth Widdop and George Williams did well enough – subject to all the caveats about the quality of the opposition – to deserve the run as the first-choice half-backs McNamara seems determined to give them.

It was also good to see England’s No 1 forward, James Graham, looking so eager. He had the air of a player who could not wait to get these French novices out of the way and get stuck into the formidable Kiwi pack.