ENGLAND KNIGHTS will compete in this year’s European Championship, the second-string’s head coach Paul Anderson confirmed following the draw for the tournament.
England are one of eight participating nations, although there was initial confusion about which team would take part.
After seeing them drawn in Group A against Scotland, Ireland and Serbia, Anderson confirmed he would be leading the Knights in the competition, with England still hopeful of securing a Test series against a southern hemisphere nation this autumn.
“The World Cup has shown there is an appetite for more international football,” said Anderson.
“I am really excited for this competition. We are planning and putting scenarios in place for travelling to Serbia. All of the competing nations will get a lot out of this competition.”
And Anderson would be happy to see other countries fielding some NRL heritage players.
“We want them to be as competitive as possible,” he added.
“We will be looking to select players who might qualify for the next World Cup.”
The European Championship will be played in October and November this year, with eight teams split into two groups.
France have been drawn in Group B, alongside Wales, Italy and Spain.
The tournament, which will have a final on the weekend of November 11 between the group winners, also doubles as a stage of qualifying for the 2025 World Cup.
The best team in each group outside of England and France, who automatically qualify, after the round-robin fixtures will secure their World Cup places.
The next best pair will then progress to the next round of qualifying in 2024 with the winners of this year’s second-tier European Championship B (involving Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Norway and Ukraine), while the bottom-placed sides are eliminated from World Cup contention.
Ireland coach Ged Corcoran said of his side’s draw: “All the teams will bring different challenges.
“It’s exciting for us, on the back of the World Cup it gives us an opportunity to play a top-tier team like England. It’s always nice to go up against the other Celtic teams like Scotland, and there’s a challenge in Serbia, one of the unknown teams in the competition.
“It will be nice to ride off the back of the World Cup, keep that core group together and add some more quality into it and have some injured players back who will strengthen us again.”
Mark Moxon, assistant to Wales coach John Kear, reacted: “I think it’s a good draw for us and we’re looking forward to it.
“We were competitive in the World Cup a few months ago against really good opposition. We want to push forward and build on that and look towards qualification for the World Cup in 2025.
“We’ve always been competitive in the European Championship. We’ve got a core group of players who have been together for a long time.
“We enjoy our time together and always give our best. While you’re doing that it’s going to be enjoyable and we look forward to this tournament coming up.”
