Leeds Rhinos ace praised after England women overwhelm Wales

The 34-year-old scored a brace of tries in a player of the match performance and Barrow revealed: “I challenged Amy a little bit this week about her performance and she responded like the professional she is.”

The coach reflected: “She went out and did what she always does in an England shirt, which is cause devastation, but I also think there was a bit more to her game. There was a little two v one where she put her winger in and I think that’s a skill Amy has developed over the last few years, which is good to see.”

It was also unselfish from the centre who was on a hat-trick, but opted not to go for glory herself. Barrow added: “When you play for your country it has got to be a team-first mentality. That was a really good example.”

Barrow was also pleased with former Castleford Tigers and Leeds half-back Georgia Roche in her first game since winning the NRL Women’s Grand Final with Newcastle Knights last month. He said: “The big thing she has brought back is she is more vocal.

“We want our half to be more vocal and this time she is really confident in ordering and bossing everyone around. You could see that, which was really good.”

England led only 20-0 at half-time, but ran in seven tries in a dominant effort after the break. Barrow was “satisfied overall, but certainly not with the first half”.

He admitted: ”We were scrappy in the first half and allowed a really competitive Wales team to have a really good go at us. I don’t think we showed them enough respect with the ball, but I was really pleased with our scramble defence in the first half. The effort and application was there, we just needed to be a bit smarter with the ball and make fewer errors.”

Of the second half transformation, Barrow said: “I probably tore a semi layer of paint off the walls in the changing rooms at half-time, which they are not used to with me. What I am really pleased with is the response in the second half, which was very good.”