England boss Shaun Wane has included 20 potential debutants, including Salford’s Tyler Dupree, Warrington’s Josh Thewlis and Leeds’ Morgan Gannon, in a 40-man squad preparing for to face France.
With one eye on the 2025 World Cup, he has chosen plenty of Betfred Super League’s best young talent to run the rule over ahead of the Test at Warrington on April 29 and also for the rest of the year. Leeds centre Harry Newman, Huddersfield’s Will Pryce and Hull KR’s Mikey Lewis will all hope to earn first caps. And unbeaten Super League leaders Warrington have eight players selected including uncapped wingers Thewlis and Matty Ashton plus prop James Harrison - whose dad Karl represented Great Britain with such esteem - and 19-year-old back-row Matty Nicholson.
Wigan also have eight selections with in-form forwards Ethan Harvard and Morgan Smithies seeking a first taste of top-flight international rugby league. But there is plenty of experience on hand as well with 35-year-old Huddersfield prop Chris Hill retaining his place after an excellent World Cup last autumn. Seven Super League-based players from that tournament have been omitted including England captain Sam Tomkins, the Catalans star who has played only once this season due to injury, and his Dragons team-mate Michael McIlorum.
But Salford captain Kallum Watkins, 32, is also perhaps surprisingly left out along with in-form Hull KR winger Ryan Hall who, admittedly, is now 35. Salford scrum-half Marc Sneyd is overlooked with St Helens duo Jonny Lomax and Lewis Dodd coming back into the frame as playmaker options after missing the World Cup due to injury. Warrington stand-off George Williams, fresh from winning Super League’s player of the month and signing a new long-term deal, is expected to be one of the starting halves at his home ground.
The other World Cup players omitted are St Helens’ Joe Batchelor and Wigan’s Mike Cooper who are both currently injured. The squad, which will be whittled down to 20 on Tuesday week, rewards players who have performed well in the opening rounds of Super League including Hull KR stand-off Jordan Abdull whose sole England appearance came against France in 2021. There is a welcome return for Tom Johnstone, the ex-Wakefield winger who scored a hat-trick on debut against France in 2018 but hasn’t featured since following a string of injuries.
He has been in fine form since joining Catalans in the off-season as has Dupree, the exciting 23-year-old Salford prop who gets the nod less than 12 months after playing in the Championship with Widnes. Hull KR hooker Jez Litten, 25, has been drafted in along while Leeds second-row Gannon, 19, has not featured much this term but has long been viewed as a potential England player.
Wane said: “I’ve selected a very young extended squad this time around and that is very much with the 2025 World Cup in France in mind. There are still several experienced players within the squad who featured in last year’s World Cup, and others who could come back in. I am hoping the more experienced cohort help those younger players adapt and thrive in an international camp which will be very demanding.
“As always, the squad will be fluid, and players will be added if they are performing well and vice versa should performances dip. I think the squad really shows the depth of talent across the Betfred Super League, which plenty of people saw in person and on TV across the Easter Weekend.
“The mid-season international against France is the first step on the road to the next Rugby League World Cup and we are hoping to begin the journey in front of a packed house at Warrington’s Halliwell Jones Stadium.”
England squad: Abdull, Lewis, Litten (all Hull KR), Farrell, Havard, King, Marshall, Pearce-Paul, Smith, Smithies, Wardle (all Wigan), Dodd, Knowles, Lees, Lomax, Makinson, Percival, Walmlsey, Welsby (all St Helens), Ashton, Clark, Currie, Harrison, Nicholson, Thewlis, Walker, Williams (all Warrington), Hill, Pryce, Wilson (all Huddersfield), Davies, Johnstone, McMeeken (all Catalans), Dupree, Ackers (both Salford), Gannon, Handley, Holroyd, Newman, Oledzki (all Leeds).
