England thrashed an injury-hit Samoan outfit in the opening Rugby League World Cup fixture at St James Park on Sunday (NZT).
The hosts ran in 10 tries to claim a resounding 60-6 statement victory in front of more than 43,000 supporters.
With a plethora of NRL stars to call on, Samoa entered the match as favourites, and only behind Australia and New Zealand as overall winners.
But instead, it was England's Australian-based players who shone to upset the visitors and signal their World Cup ambitions to the rest of the teams.
Newcastle Knights winger Dom Young and Canberra Raiders star Elliot Whitehead both scored a double, while Sydney Roosters lock Victor Radley was named man-of-the-match.
Despite the huge margin of victory, England led just 18-6 at halftime, but capatlised on Samoa's poor discipline and injuries in the second half.
Former Penrith Panthers playmaker was stretchered from the field with a dislocated hip, while North Queensland flier Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow is also expected to miss the rest of the tournament with a syndesmosis injury.
If injuries weren't enough to overcome, Samoa lost halfback Anthony Milford midway through the second half to the sin-bin for a late tackle on England captain Sam Tomkins.
England made sure to make Samoa pay, scoring four of their seven second-half tries in Milford's absence from the field.
South Sydney Rabbitohs prop Tom Burgess and Brisbane Broncos centre Herbie Farnworth both crossed to inflict further damage on a disappointing Samoan side.
Samoa captain Junior Paulo admits his team were outclassed by the hosts, but believes the loss will put them in good stead going forward.
"It's a good test of our character moving forward," Paulo said. "But I still believe we've got a good side here.
"It's hard to stop momentum. Any team that turns over the ball that much, the other team is going to capitalise on it, especially a quality team like that [England] completing high.
"They're a quality team, but we definitely have one. We've got to be resilient and bounce back. They outclassed us today. But it's the start of the tournament. We've got to go back, regroup and move onto next week.
"We still believe we have a quality team. We have a few that can slide in and replace the injuries and do the job. We've got each other to lean on. It's a good test of character moving forward."
England 60 (Young 2, Whitehead 2, Welsby, Watkins, Farnworth, Makinson, Williams, Burgess tries; Makinson 8 con, 2 pen)
Samoa 6 (Tago try; Crichton 1 con)
