Oliver Gildart has been called into the England squad for this autumn’s internationals against France and New Zealand.
The 22-year-old Wigan centre, who was Super League’s Young Player of the Year in 2017 and has played an important role in the Warriors’ progress to Saturday’s Betfred Super League Grand Final, fills the place vacated by the withdrawal of Sam Burgess because of injury.
Gildart had been due to travel to Papua New Guinea via Brisbane next week with the England Knights squad who will play two internationals against the Kumuls. His place in the Knights squad has been taken by Niall Evalds, the 25-year-old Salford full-back – and Paul Anderson, the Knights coach, has also called up Tom Lineham, the Warrington wing who scored two tries in last week’s dramatic semi final win against St Helens, as a replacement for Castleford’s Greg Minikin, who has withdrawn because of injury.
Minikin’s Tigers teammate Luke Gale has also been forced to withdraw from the England squad with a knee injury. A replacement for Gale will be named early next week – before the one-off Test against France at Leigh Sports Village on Wednesday.
