ALEX Walmsley is itching to make his international debut after having his appetite whetted by England's friendly win in Perth.

The St Helens front-rower made a big impact from the bench as Wayne Bennett's men warmed up for Friday's opening World Cup match against Australia with a 74-12 rout of the part-time players of the Combined Affiliated States.

Walmsley has been invigorated by England's training camp in Western Australia but says his hunger was actually sparked by his non-playing involvement in the mid-season Test against Samoa.

He made the 12,000-mile trip to Sydney but was one of three players not used in a match that England won 30-10.

Walmsley said: "Being a part of the 20-man squad in May put me in good stead. It was tough not playing but I think I'm better for it, as a player and as a person.

"It reignited the hunger. I've always been really ambitious and representing my country has always been one of my aims. I came close in May and hopefully this time I get the opportunity."

Walmsley has been on the fringes of the England squad ever since bursting onto the Super League scene so impressively for St Helens in 2013.

He was a member of their Grand Final-winning team in 2014 and 12 months later was named in the Super League Dream Team and on the three-man short-list for Man of Steel.

Yet he missed out on the end-of-season internationals that year due to injury and fell down the pecking order by the time the Four Nations Series came around in 2016.

"I put my international aims on the back-burner a little bit but thankfully I've been given an opportunity and hopefully I'll get to pull on that jersey this time around," he said.

It has been an eventful last two months for Walmsley, who played a big role in St Helens' push for the Grand Final and became a father for the first time.

The former Batley prop famously came off ten minutes from the end of Saints' game at Wakefield on September 7 in order to make a dash to hospital after his partner went into labour.

He arrived just too late to witness the birth of son Atticus, named after the fictitious lawyer Atticus Finch in 'To Kill a Mocking Bird'.

"I did the book at school and it's been one of my favourite ones since," explained Walmsley.

"We had a girl's name sorted but we were struggling for a boy's name. I read the book again over the summer and I proposed it to Simone and she was happy with it.

"It's been a fantastic six weeks since the birth, such a whirlwind of emotions from that night and, off the back of it, part of the challenge of representing my country.

"I'm very fortunate that I've got a very supportive partner who is going to come out to Australia with the little one."