England 42 Wales 4: Tomkins ready to step up against Australia

However, this latest haul, in only his 11th appearance, was against Wales, a side containing eight part-timers. His previous quartet had been against a distinctly poor France last year on the back of a hat-trick debut versus Wales in 2009.

There has been some notable exclusions when it comes to the predatory Wigan Warriors full-back showcasing his prolific ability on the international stage – he has certainly yet to unleash against Australia.

If England are going to push on and win a first major tournament since 1972, they need the dynamic player to show his undoubted talent against the Kangaroos when they meet at Wembely on Saturday.

Tomkins was disappointing in last year’s Four Nations, failing to even score once Down Under and largely being contained by the Australians and Kiwis.

There is a sense he now needs to deliver and Super League’s top try-scorer is relishing the prospect as, he says, are all Steve McNamara’s squad following Saturday’s opener in Leigh.

“We’re under no illusions – we’re not going to be scoring 30 or 40 odd points every week in this competition,” he said, after equalling Tony Clubb’s tournament- best four tries.

“We’re going to have to get better and better in the next two or three weeks if we want to be at Elland Road picking a trophy up. I think everyone’s committed to doing that.

“We’ll respect them (Australia and New Zealand) as they are both quality teams but we’re getting better and this is the strongest squad I’ve certainly been involved in.

“If we’re going to do it, I think now’s the time.”

While England struggled to make the most of Tomkins’s threat 12 months ago, the introduction of Castleford Tigers’ half-back Rangi Chase in a growing partnership with Kevin Sinfield seems to be creating more holes for him now.

The pair combined to furnish him with his first two tries in the opening 15 minutes, Sinfield then slipping Hull FC centre Kirk Yeaman through untouched following another slick interchange initiated by Chase six minutes later.

But Wales, 100-1 tournament outsiders, refused to buckle and, having strengthened their defensive line, seeing impressive Bradford prop Craig Kopczak make a long-range break and buoyed by Lee Briers delivering a customary 40/20, began to compete on more even terms.

It was not until the 50th minute when Tomkins completed his treble – rounding off Gareth Ellis’s surge – that they predictably began to tire.

They had lost their experienced prop Jordan James after just eight seconds when he was flattened by Ben Westwood in the first tackle of the match – how England need the robust second-row to show similar grit this weekend – and it badly affected their interchanges.

It was Westwood who showed a defter side to give Keighley-born Brisbane Broncos centre Jack Reed his second try in as many caps while the authoritative Sinfield gave Tomkins just enough sight of the line for his fourth after Briers’s short drop-out backfired.

The introduction of Melbourne Storm’s Yorkshireman Gareth Widdop for Chase illustrated McNamara has further half-back options as he glided through to create Chris Heighington’s first international try and then finished off himself when Ryan Hall intercepted after the hooter but it was all far from convincing.

Wembley, and rugby league’s first return for a Test match in 14 years, will be a different propositin entirely.

“I’ve only been there once before and that ended pretty well,” said Tomkins, referring to his Wigan side’s Challenge Cup Final victory over Leeds Rhinos in August.

“Hopefully it will be the same on Saturday. It’s a massive occasion playing at Wembley and probably nothing more special than playing the Aussies there as well.

“I watched them on Friday night against the Kiwis and nothing worried us from what we saw.

“Both teams played well in patches and both had some flaws we’re going to try and exploit.

“We gave Wales a bit today – things aren’t going to go your way for a full 80 minutes – but for the first half we probably gave them a little bit too much.

“They were playing on a lot of emotion and we knew it would be tough but the second half was better and we saw today some of our combinations are beginning to work.”

Wales deserved their well-crafted try from Bradford-bound winger Elliott Kear in the 66th minute – although Yeaman was hopelessly out of position – and, considering the early loss of James, and pre-match withdrawals of injured duo Peter Lupton and Lloyd White, coach Iestyn Harris had plenty to be pleased about.

“It was gutsy,” he said.

“I’m really proud of the way they physically and mentally stood up to some testing periods. Our game awareness wasn’t as good as it could be, but that’s something we need to work on.

“I’m super, super proud of the way they dug in for each other and we need to work on some areas to improve. But they’re on board and excited about improving themselves.”

England: Tomkins; Hall, Reed, Yeaman, Briscoe; Sinfield, Chase; Graham, Roby, Peacock, Ellis, Westwood, Heighington. Substitutes: Widdop, Morley, Wilkin, Jones-Buchanan.

Wales: Jones; Kear, Webster, Roets, R. Williams; Briers, Seamark, J. James, Budworth, Dudson, Frizell, Bracek, Flower. Substitutes: Kopczak, Watson, A. James, Divorty.