England boss Shaun Wane is set to hand out four new caps in their World Cup clash with France including Wigan's Kai Pearce-Paul.
As expected, the coach has included all seven players from his 24-strong tournament squad who didn’t feature in Saturday’s convincing 60-6 defeat of Samoa in Newcastle. Pearce-Paul and fellow second-row Joe Batchelor (St Helens) will play their first Tests as will Salford duo Andy Ackers and Marc Sneyd. Leeds prop Mikolaj Oledzki is recalled as is Hull KR winger Ryan Hall along with Wigan's John Bateman who has served his three-game ban.
England captain Sam Tomkins is named in the 19-man squad as is Dragons colleague Michael McIlorum so they could face plenty of his Catalans team-mates in Saturday's game at Bolton. Those left out are St Helens trio Tommy Makinson, Matty Lees and Morgan Knowles plus Catalans' Mike McMeeken and Wigan prop Mike Cooper
In-form winger Dom Young is set to get another shot but Wane has not yet said whether Jack Welsby or George Williams will partner Sneyd in the halves. England top the Group A table on points difference from France, who enjoyed a 34-12 win over Greece in their opening fixture. Saturday's game is heading for a sell-out but a limited amount of tickets remain.
England 19-man squad: Tomkins, Watkins, Farnworth, Hall, Williams, Welsby, Burgess, McIlorum, Thompson, Bateman, Whitehead, Radley, Young, Hill, Ackers, Sneyd, Batchelor, Oledzki, Pearce-Paul.
