Lee Radford on specific Samoa role, being ghosted by Andy Last and Castleford Tigers recruitment

The Castleford Tigers boss is a member of Matt Parish's coaching staff for the tournament after receiving an offer he could not refuse.

His appointment threw up a potentially awkward encounter with England – a nation he represented six times as a player – but there will be no split loyalties once the whistle blows at St James' Park.

When asked whether he was 100 per cent Samoan this weekend, Radford told The Yorkshire Post: "Definitely, yeah.

"With my professional head on, I'm doing what I can to help Samoa get a result.

"I'm here to progress as a coach, to try and better myself by working with different coaches, different backroom teams and certainly different players.

"The proud Englishman thing hasn't really come into it. Those boundaries started to get broken down 20 years ago when (Australian) Mick Withers swore his allegiance to Great Britain.

"Since then we've had Maurie Fa'asavalu, Rangi Chase, Jackson Hastings. If you look at the other hemisphere, the bouncing between New Zealand and Australia is pretty frequent, and Australia to the Pacific islands now.

"It's more common for coaches and players to bounce between nations than it ever has been."

Few are better qualified to give tournament dark horses Samoa the inside track on the Super League-based players they will come up against in Newcastle.

Radford, who led Hull FC from 2013 to 2020 before taking over at Castleford late last year, has been tasked with ensuring the Samoans have the information to keep England's attacking threats quiet.

"I'm looking after the defence," added Radford.

"Geoff Toovey is in camp as well and is very much contact-focused. I'm pretty much picking up most of the other bits. Danny Holdsworth is looking after the attack and Matt oversees everything.

"Defensively is the area I'm looking at but also the players are wanting to know all about the English boys so the fact I've coached against most of them all year, hopefully I can help in that way as well."

England head coach Shaun Wane is set to field all three half-backs available to him after naming George Williams, Marc Sneyd and Jack Welsby in his 19-man squad along with only one specialist hooker in Michael McIlorum.

Radford knows all about Sneyd's kicking game from their time together at Hull, while Welsby provides an X factor from the bench.

"They're a strong side all over the place," said Radford prior to the squad announcement.

"It will be really intriguing to see what they do in the halves with Sneydy, Welsby and George. It'll be really interesting to see which direction they go in with that.

"That will have a massive influence on the way the game is played."

As England ran riot against Fiji in a warm-up match last Friday, Samoa were still in transit.

The Pacific Islanders blew away the cobwebs with an opposed session against Ireland earlier this week and looked a "bit scratchy", according to Radford.

But he has been blown away by what he has seen off the field, with a Sydney Roosters starlet catching his eye.

"I've been really, really impressed with Joseph Suaalii," said Radford.

"The first thing you notice when you come across him is his physical presence. Frank Pritchard is a big human being but he's taller and probably wider than Frank which is scary for a 19-year-old full-back.

"It's not just his athleticism I've been impressed with – he held his own meeting this week about his responsibilities as a full-back. I've not seen a 19-year-old kid hold a room like that before.

"What's been really noticeable has been the knowledge of the game across the group. Their rugby IQ is really high. They're all very intelligent rugby players."

The clash pits Radford against Tigers assistant Andy Last, who holds the same role with England.

The pair have kept their distance in the build-up, so much so that Last has ghosted his club boss.

"He's not answering my calls," said Radford with a smile.

"I've got some Castleford things I need to discuss with him but he's switched his phone off to me.

"We might speak on Saturday afternoon after the game. It's nothing that can't wait till Saturday."

When the Castleford coaches do eventually catch up, recruitment is unlikely to be on the agenda.

"I think we're done in terms of salary cap and quota spots as well," added Radford. "We're there or thereabouts."

Radford will continue to spin plates for a few more weeks before giving pre-season his full attention.

Club rugby remains his true passion with an international head coach role not on the horizon.

"It's something I've not even considered,” said Radford on any England aspirations. “The timing would have to be right for something like that to happen and there are probably higher candidates than me at this moment in time. It's not something I'm thinking about.”