SAINTS prop Alex Walmsley is still trying to put on the pounds to return to his full playing weight after spending three days on a drip during the first week of the World Cup.

The giant front rower, who is reportedly attracting the attention of a cluster of NRL clubs, made his long-awaited England debut after recovering from the mystery virus that wiped his first week out.

He missed the tournament's opener against holders Australia in Melbourne and after sitting out the mid season test against Samoa, despite flying 12,000 miles, the Saints heavyweight must have thought that fate was against him at international level.

But he finally earned his first cap, coming off the bench in Saturday's 29-10 win over Lebanon.

Now he wants to springboard forward for the rest of the tournament after finally donning the white shirt in a competitive fixture.

The game against France will be followed by the knockout stages, starting with the quarters, so Walmsley still has plenty to target this autumn.

He said: "To finally get out there and put the shirt on was a huge honour.

"It was a very proud moment in my career.

"I've been close on occasions before and at one point last week I thought I was never going to make it.

"It was a really tough illness and it knocked me for six. I was struggling for a good week and finding myself on a drip for three days wasn't ideal leading into a World Cup.

"I'm still working to put the weight back on but the doc has done a great job with me, getting me back fit and this game was important for me to build on, getting a few minutes under my belt and hopefully I can continue to do that next week against France and build for the rest of the tournament."

England opened their account with victory over Lebanon, but it was a scratchy display with just one score in an occasionally fractious second half.

Walmsley said: "There were aspects where we were good I think.

"There was a lot of energy, a lot of effort, in our defence in particular.

"I think for the vast majority of the game we defended really well. We were a bit scratchy with the ball so there's something to work on there but I think the main objective was getting the win, which we did. We completed in that sense but there's also lots to build on."

From a personal point of view Walmsley was happy with how it went.

"There were no errors. It was important to put in a strong start, especially coming off the back of a bit of illness.

"I'm happy to do whatever Wayne wants me to do. I'm not going to be a forward who is going to do 60 or 70 minutes, I'm going to come on and give 15 or 20 minutes of good energy, that's my role in the team," he said.