DARYL Clark set the international scene alight with the first touch of his England career to help his country head in at half time with a lead over Samoa.

The new Warrington Wolves man gave a superb assist for ex-Castleford teammate Michael Shenton to open the scoring moments after entering the field.

Kallum Watkins then crossed following tries for Samoa from Isaac Liu and Daniel Vidot to give England the lead.

They had been forced to deal with a fierce Samoan attack early on, gifting the Pacific Islanders the ball in hand after a knock-on from Matty Smith before conceding a penalty.

Steve McNamara’s side were able to gain possession for the first time when, following Samoa stand-off Ben Roberts being stopped narrowly short, a knock on returned the ball in England’s favour.

Sam Tomkins was next to stop Samoa crossing when he dived superbly on a Roberts’ grubber in front the England try line before Daniel Vidot could pounce.

With 13 minutes played England knocked on from the first drive of the set, Watkins spilling in the tackle.

A fifth penalty in the opening 15 minutes continued to hand Samoa the ball and were forced to deal with another onslaught of blue bodies, albeit holding firm.

Moments later, having soaked up the Samoan pressure, Tomkins inadvertently juggled a pass to send Watkins’ free, but the Leeds Rhinos man was called back for a knock on.

Cue the arrival of Wolves’ new hooker 20 minutes in. Clark was in quickly to gather just inside the Samoa half after Liam Farrell was tackled.

The England debutant, with his first touch of the ball in international rugby, danced between three would-be Samoa tacklers before drawing full back and feeding former teammate Shenton to go the distance.

The video referee took a quick check before awarding the try and allowing Gareth Widdop to add the extras, with Wolves’ Chris Hill also joining the action from the bench.

However, four minutes later Samoa forced the ball through the middle and Liu was able to barge his way over between the sticks. Stanley levelled with the boot.

On the half hour mark Samoa took the lead for the first time, for all England’s solid defence early on they could not stop a second try in five minutes as the ball was whisked wide right for winger Vidot to finish.

It was Wolves’ Hill who led the recovery, the powerful forward was stopper short in front of the Samoa sticks before quick hands from Smith and Tomkins put Watkins in for a simple touchdown.

Widdop converted from a tight angle to edge England ahead.

Tony Smith would have been watching anxiously on as the half came to a close as Clark was caught by three defenders and looked to have been hurt.

But the Super League Man of Steel recovered to his feet and Widdop opted to kick the penalty and give England a four-point lead at the break.