Rob Hawkins said England "were not playing to our standards" despite opening their Wheelchair World Cup title defence with a commanding 98-18 win over Wales in Wollongong. The two-time winners scored 18 tries to Wales' three, with Hawkins banking 11 tries and four conversions for an individual tally of 52 points.
Nathan Collins scored four tries and made nine of 11 conversion attempts, while Joe Coyd, Jack Brown and Mason Billington also crossed for England. Hawkins hopes the victory will be a "stepping stone" towards brighter performances, admitting the side made "silly errors" and gave away points.
"Today's performance was a decent start for the team," said Hawkins. "It wasn't the best match we could have played. We're building so we can peak at the right time."
Wales kept pace for the opening 20 minutes, with tries from Stuart Williams and Sid Ramsey cutting the deficit to 18-12. However, England scored 28 unanswered points to lead 46-12 at half-time and added 10 more tries after the break. Ramsey claimed a consolation score in the 71st minute, his second of the match.
Elsewhere in Group A, Ireland broke their international points record with a 110-10 thrashing of the United States. Their 20-try haul, including seven tries for Joseph Calcott and six for Cian Horgan, surpassed the 92 points they scored against Scotland in last year's Celtic Cup. England face the United States on 3 November (07:30 GMT), with Ireland playing Wales earlier that day at 05:00 GMT.
Source: BBC Sport · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing