Shan wane has an issue. A excellent one. Having named George Williams as his new captain, the England head trainer will disenchanted quite a lot of other folks when he alternatives his England staff to stand France at Warrington on Saturday afternoon. He may not be fielding probably the most Super League’s shape half-back combos or probably the most gadgets that has inspired to this point this season.
Selecting a bunch of 40 avid gamers previous this month allowed Wane to incorporate the entire applicants for puts in his elite staff to play Tonga within the autumn and the second-string aspect that can compete within the European Championship. Within that team of 40 had been two very obtrusive membership combos, the St Helens backbone of full-back Jack Welsby, and half-backs Jonny Lomax and Lewis Dodd. Or the thrilling Hull KR half-back partnership of Jordan Abdull and Mikey Lewis, with younger Jez Litten at hooker.
But he’ll do neither. Captain Williams has flourished below Wane and is again to his best possible at Warrington so will get started at six or seven, that means the World Club Challenge-winning pairing of Lomax and Dodd will probably be damaged up. Those 3 are more likely to percentage half-back roles in opposition to Tonga (if their excursion is going forward), with uncapped kids Harry Smith and Lewis guidance England within the European Championship, which might be harsh on Abdull given he’s again to his very good 2021 shape.
The hooker spot may be up for grabs. With the previous guard of James Roby, Josh Hodgson and McIlhorum all long past, Wane might play Williams along his Warrington teammates Daryl Clark and Danny Walker, however that might imply leaving out Salford hooker Andy Ackers although he did little incorrect on the World Cup.
Sean Long, the previous England and Great Britain half-back who’s now training Featherstone and assistant trainer at France, thinks Wane is lacking a trick: “It’s crazy that you wouldn’t have your six, seven, nine and one, not necessarily from the same team, because you can’t be biased, but if they are available and playing well then everyone knows how they play.”
“The big men can do their job and the outside backs can do theirs. It helps when your six, seven, nine and one are on the same page. Hull KR are killing it at the moment with the six [Lewis]seven [Abdull] and nine [Litten), so they’ve got the spine. I rate [Saints trio] Jonny and Lewis really highly and Welsby is a great player but whether they’ll play or not against my French team, we’ll see. They’ve got a few runs on the board.
By resisting the temptation to pick combinations that work well at club level, Wane is continuing an English tradition. No one knows that better than Saints legend Long. He played in seven Super League Grand Finals in the halves alongside Paul Sculthorpe and Tommy Martyn, then Leon Pryce. Yet, in an international career that lasted for more than a decade, he partnered six different half-backs and played just three Tests alongside his club-mates. After two matches with Sculthorpe – both extremely narrow defeats to Australia – Long and Pryce combined to pull off perhaps the greatest GB Lions win this century, stunning Australia in Sydney in November 2006. A week later, Long abruptly curtailed his international career with an act of spectacular self-sabotage on a flight from Wellington after a heavy defeat to New Zealand.
Some national coaches clearly didn’t trust Long, but it wasn’t entirely personal. In 20 England internationals from 2008 to 2012, Tony Smith started a dozen different half-backs in 13 different combinations, Leeds maestros Danny McGuire and Rob Burrow playing just once together. No wonder it didn’t work. Long is convinced that opportunities are being missed.
“Your spine controls everything, all of the attacking structure, they know how you defend,” he says. “Look at groups right through historical past: whether or not that is Wigan again within the 90s, St Helens or Leeds – identical backbone: Kevin Sinfield, Danny McGuire, Rob Burrow. It’s no twist of fate the groups that experience long past directly to have good fortune within the Super League generation have all had that. We’re no longer simply speaking about Super League. It’s rugby league generally. Same within the NRL with the Storm and the Roosters. I handiest performed with Leon as soon as and we beat Australia.
Whoever is in the halves, this will be a new-look England and the start of another World Cup cycle, one lasting only two and a half years. When the fireworks went up around Old Trafford at the conclusion of the delayed 2021 World Cup last November, the curtain came down on half of the England squad. Their reaction after their 27-26 defeat to Samoa in the semi-finals said it all: many knew it was their last World Cup.
Speaking last week, Wane said “the entirety is concerning the subsequent World Cup in 2025,” adding that, although many of his aging players were no longer being considered, his squad would be different if England were playing Australia in the autumn rather than Tonga ( hopefully), Ireland, Scotland, Serbia and probably France again.
Of the veterans, only 35-year-old Huddersfield prop Chris Hill has survived the cull, although one of Wane’s other favorite forwards – Mike Cooper – might have if injury had not ruled him out. Wane had previously said Tomkins and Hill would play a part but suggested it might be in a non-playing capacity. Expect Hill’s experience to guide the youngsters in a new-look pack with Tomkins advising from the dugout.
International retirement has seemingly been imposed most surprisingly on Salford duo Marc Sneyd and Kallum Watkins, as well as England’s record try-scorer Ryan Hall, who has just signed another year at Hull KR but would be 38 by the latter stages of the World Cup in 2025.
The France match will be just Wane’s 10th game in three years as England coach and many of his ‘regulars’ are unavailable due to being in the NRL with added injuries (Cooper) and suspension (Morgan Knowles). Obvious like-for-like replacements abound: Toby King – switching back from Ireland duty at the World Cup – or Mark Percival for Herbie Farnworth at centre; Alex Walmsley in for Tom Burgess at prop; once-capped Tom Johnstone – thriving in Perpignan – or uncapped options Liam Marshall or Matty Ashton on the wings for Dom Young and Hall.
Wane will halve his bloated squad on Tuesday, likely leaving out many of the England Knights’ youngsters expected to reappear in the European Championship in the autumn. By then they will know what to expect from Wane and what is required at elite international level. Knowing those around you will definitely help.
One more thing
The Premier League is phasing out front-of-shirt sponsorship from gambling companies. It has been quietly absent from British professional rugby league since BetFred started to hoover up every title-sponsorship going. Clubs have agreed not to promote rival gambling companies on their jerseys, leaving a discreet BetFred logo on the sleeves.
This has resulted in a healthy range of front-of-shirt sponsors in Super League from household appliances (Warrington) and computers (Wakefield), to builders’ merchants (Salford), home stores (St Helens) and pharmaceutical giants (Hull FC). . While we may soon look back at the BetFred era with the same uneasy nostalgia as the Silk Cut Challenge Cup, Stones Bitter Championship and Tetley’s Super League, at least our clubs will not face the novel challenge of finding more varied and socially acceptable sponsors.
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