England coach Shaun Wane has called for his improvement from his team after they downed France 42-18 in Bolton.

England made it two World Cup wins from two matches with the result, and are now top of Group A.

Wane gave his players a fiery speech at half-time at the game, with the score locked at 18-12, and it worked as the hosts piled on 24 more points in the second half.

“I wasn’t angry. I just knew we could do better,” he said.

“I thought the French were good, they challenged us. We knew after the highs of last week, it wasn’t going to be plain sailing but overall I’m happy to win a Test match and score 40 points but I know how much we can improve.

“I was frustrated because I thought in the first 20 minutes we were outstanding and in the second 20 we slightly went away from it but I don’t want to talk the French down.”

England will now face Greece in Sheffield this Saturday.

The hosts are likely to take on Papua New Guinea in the quarter-final stage.

 
Either Tonga, and then Australia or New Zealand, could potentially lay await in the final, and Wane wants his side to be more consistent.

“It’s a win in an important Test match but we will, without a shadow of a doubt, improve on that,” he said.

“We’re a good team, we’ve got a good (squad of) 24 and we need to keep that competition.

“I don’t want to make my team selections easy, I want them to be really hard and I want a conversation to be had. I’ve got a great group of staff who work so hard to prepare these players.

“When we pick our team against Greece, I want there to be 24 players fighting for a spot.

“I knew they can do better. We have to do better, some of the things weren’t good enough and even now I feel the same.

“We did some really good things, just not consistently enough.”