Centre Martin Gleeson is hoping he has silenced his critics with his tryscoring heroics in England's rout of France.

The international future of the 28-year-old former St Helens favourite had been placed in doubt after a series of below-par performances for under-achieving Warrington this year.

But coach Tony Smith kept faith with him after the part he played in Great Britain's Test series whitewash of New Zealand last year and he responded in style with the first hat-trick of his career as England cruised to a 56-8 victory over the French in Toulouse.

Gleeson had been under growing pressure from the likes of Kirk Yeaman (Hull), Michael Shenton (Castleford) and Ryan Atkins (Wakefield) but he is now virtually certain to make England's World Cup squad at the end of the year.

"There's a few young kids biting at your heels but, when you come into this environment, it brings the best out of you," he said.

"We'd trained really well all week and there was a good buzz getting back in camp together. Tony filled us with confidence and we knew we could do a job.

"Hopefully, we can take a bit of confidence out of this for the World Cup."

Gleeson has scored just two tries in his last 10 matches for his club but he once more looked a class act against the French, gliding over for the try that put England in front for the first time and then completing his hat-trick with two more within 21 minutes of the restart.

"I've scored two a few times but never a hat-trick, apart from in friendlies, so that's a monkey off my back," he said.

"There's a long way to go to the World Cup and you never know what's going to happen between now and then but, hopefully I can play well for Warrington and take it from there."

Gleeson, who is being linked with a move to Melbourne Storm for next season, was brought off before the end of last night's match with an ankle injury but is hoping to play for the Wolves at Hull tomorrow. "If I'm 80% fit, I'll play," he said.

Meanwhile, Leeds captain Kevin Sinfield looks to have booked his place on trip to Australia after another superb display for his country.

Man of the match for Great Britain as a makeshift stand-off in last season's 42-12 win over France at Headingley, Sinfield revelled in his favourite loose forward role and also kicked five goals from six attempts.

"I really enjoyed it," he said. "Last year I came off the bench and Smithy has given me a start this time. I felt I needed to repay him a little bit and hopefully I've done that.

"There's always some things to work on but I'm pleased with the hit-out.

"It's always tough to come to France with the heat and a hostile environment but the attitude of everybody was fantastic.

"It took a bit to get going and we had to weather a storm early on but the guys came out with the right attitude. I thought there were some great signs there.

"The guys' attitude was fantastic and that's a great thing."

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