England head coach Shaun Wane admits he was forced to make some tough decisions as he chiselled out his 24-man squad for the upcoming two-Test series against Samoa.
Wane’s men return to international action at Wigan on Sunday for the first time since they concluded an impressive 3-0 whitewash of Tonga last Autumn, as they face the side that denied them in an epic 2022 World Cup semi-final at the Emirates Stadium.
Among the notable absentees was Hull KR captain and Super League dream team inductee Elliot Minchella, who fell just short of making the cut despite being instrumental in leading his side to this month’s Grand Final at Old Trafford.
Wane said: “I had difficult conversations with Elliot and other players like him. It was hard because I had some very close choices to make but they understood because I told them the truth.
“I’m very confident in the 24-man squad I’ve got. I know these players, the spirit they have here, and there’s no club allegiance – they all get behind the England badge.”
Six players who are currently based in Australia’s NRL are included in the squad, four of whom – Dom Young, Victor Radley, Herbie Farnworth and Tom Burgess – featured in north London when England’s hopes of a home World Cup triumph was shattered by a 27-26 golden-point loss.
Wigan duo Junior Nsemba and Liam Marshall, the only debutants in the squad, are both pushing to start with Wane indicating that the former has shown no ill effects from the blow he suffered in the first half of the Grand Final, despite subsequently passing a head injury assessment.
England’s Wigan-born captain George Williams praised the pair’s development and said he had special reasons to hope they got their chance either in Sunday’s opening showdown at the Brick Community Stadium, or the following Saturday in Leeds.
“Junior has been unbelievable this year for Wigan, and I think he’s got better and better as the year has gone on,” said Williams.
“He’s been really exciting and hopefully Samoa haven’t seen too much of him. As an older player, I’ll get my arm around him and help him where I can. The environment we’ve created in the last few years with England has been really special and we’d like to maintain that.
“I went to school with (Liam), so I’m really happy for him too. He’s probably a bit of a late bloomer but for him to get a call-up at this stage of his career is really good. We played together at school and hopefully now we can play for England together.”
