Wane names England training squad

Head Coach Shaun Wane has named his first England training squad of 2022 – a year which includes a mid-season international against the Combined Nations All Stars in June and culminates with the Rugby League World Cup (RWLC2021) in the Autumn.

Thirty of the best Betfred Super League players will come together at Headingley Stadium, Leeds, on Tuesday, March 15 – among them emerging talents such as St Helens’ scrum-half Lewis Dodd and Wigan Warriors’ London-born second-row Kai Pearce-Paul, and the 38-times capped Hull KR winger Ryan Hall.

Hall has scored 34 tries in his 38 England appearances to date, his most recent cap coming against Australia in the 2017 World Cup Final in Brisbane.

By contrast Dodd and Pearce-Paul are among a number of players uncapped at senior level, alongside them Matty Lees and Jack Welsby (St Helens), Liam Marshall (Wigan Warriors), Harry Newman (Leeds Rhinos) and Jake Wardle (Huddersfield Giants).

Prop Lees hails from Newhey, where his parents still live, and his Dad supports Roughyeds with membership of our Club Cash lottery.

Headingley will be the first in a series of monthly sessions with players throughout 2022, as England build towards the postponed RLWC2021.

Wane will factor-in form and fitness when inviting players to future sessions. NRL players are not available for either the training sessions or the mid-season international.

Said Shaun:

“It’s a massive year for us, a great opportunity that we must be well prepared for.
“We’ve looked at a number of things in putting this training squad together – form last year, performances in the All Stars and France games, pre-season training and discussions around up and coming young players.
“The players included for this first session need to look like England players and train like England players. We want something extra from them at this level.
“The younger players coming through are a real credit to Paul Anderson and Paul Sculthorpe on the performance pathway, club coaches and junior coaches too. To me it doesn’t matter whether you’re 17 or 37, if I think you can help us win a World Cup you’ll be in the squad.
“I’ve spoken to a lot of players and the ones not included at this stage know that they can still force their way in. It’s an open book and I see some of them coming back in later in the year.”