Hardaker shines as Samoa thrashed by Knights

The Knights ran in nine tries to three against the Pacific Islanders, who will need to find a marked improvement if they are to make an impression when they open their World Cup campaign against holders New Zealand next weekend.

Hughes took the scoring honours but the man-of-the-match award went to Zak Hardaker, who was omitted from the England squad but revived his hopes of appearing in the World Cup with a superb attacking display.

Hardaker began the match at centre but switched to full-back following the loss of Tommy Makinson and wreaked havoc on the Samoans with his incisive running in addition to kicking eight goals from nine attempts.

South Sydney prop Tom Burgess also caught the eye with a series of storming runs and clever offloads after he, like Hardaker, was dropped from the England side to face Italy. The Samoans actually looked the more potent attacking side in the opening moments and took the lead through strong-running centre Joey Leilua after only five minutes.

But the Knights took a firm grip on the game thanks largely to the efforts of lively Wigan prop Scott Taylor, whose midfield burst set up the position for Ben Cockayne to send scrum-half Sam Powell over before romping through the visitors’ defence for a solo score.

Hardaker added both conversions to make it 12-4 and Samoa’s hopes sunk further when captain Harrison Hansen limped off.

Hardaker produced a classic break to create a try for Cockayne before switching to full-back.

Full-back Anthony Milford sliced through for a solo try, which he converted, to briefly stem the tide but the Knights increased their lead when Huddersfield’s Michael Lawrence scored from a rebound with his first touch of the ball.

Both sides were temporarily reduced to 12 men with the sin-binning of Brad Singleton and Tim Lafai following a punch-up involving most players on the pitch.

Wigan centre Jack Hughes burst through for two tries while second rower Brett Ferres charged over for one and Powell touched down his own grubber kick to claim his second try of the match.

Hughes profited from an offload by Singleton to complete his hat-trick on 72 minutes but Samoa had the final say when centre Junior Sau, who will be playing at Salford in 2014, scored a consolation try and Pita Godinet added the goal.