I strongly hope that the clash between England and the Combined Nations All Stars at Warrington this Saturday will draw a near-capacity attendance.
There are no competing matches and the RFL reports that ticket sales are going well.
Last year the crowd for this fixture was limited to 4,000 because of Covid regulations, but it would have been difficult to draw many more than that figure because the All Stars fixture clashed with a full programme of Super League fixtures.
I’m sure the RFL will be hoping for an attendance significantly into five-figures.
And it’s worth remembering that it will be a double-header, with England Women kicking off their fixture against France at 3.15pm, before the England men’s team takes on the All Stars at 5.45pm. It may seem a slightly odd time for a game to be scheduled, but we should all be grateful that England are having a game before the World Cup starts.
Unfortunately we are unable to bring you the teams that will represent England and the All Stars in Saturday’s match because the two coaches, England’s Shaun Wane and the All Stars’ Ellery Hanley, were checking on the fitness of all their selections after Round 15 of Super League.
No doubt the final squads will be named early this week.
It will be particularly interesting to see who Shaun Wane names in his squad, especially given that some players who not long ago would have been thought to be nailed on for selection haven’t been breaking any pots recently.
If I were selecting an England team from Super League on the basis of current form and availability, this is the team I would pick: Sam Tomkins (Catalans), Tommy Makinson (St Helens), Kallum Watkins (Salford) Toby King (Warrington), Liam Marshall (Wigan), Jonny Lomax (St Helens), Harry Smith (Wigan), Alex Walmsley (St Helens), Kruise Leeming (Leeds), Matty Lees (St Helens), Mike McMeeken (Catalans), Liam Farrell (Wigan), Morgan Knowles (St Helens); Subs: Jack Welsby (St Helens), Chris McQueen (Huddersfield), John Bateman (Wigan), Mikolaj Oledzki (Leeds)
Some of those players – Kallum Watkins, Toby King, Mike McMeeken, Chris McQueen and Harry Smith – were not in the squad announced in March.
I think that team would give Ellery Hanley plenty to think about.
Of course one issue for Shaun Wane is that he can’t select English players who are currently playing in the NRL.
Shaun has been to Australia recently and has apparently spoken to the players over there that he would be interested in.
One thing that worries me is the possibility that he might select players with English ancestry who have little else to connect them with England.
One player he was apparently keen to speak to was the Sydney Roosters backrower Victor Radley.
Radley is undoubtedly a fine player, but there can be little doubt that if he could, he would play for Australia in the World Cup rather than England.
In my view, simply having English ancestors shouldn’t be enough to justify gaining selection for England.
Chris McQueen is in my team, because, although Australian, he also has English ancestry.
But McQueen, who played one game for England in the 2017 World Cup, is pursuing his career in England with Huddersfield and is much more committed to an English identity, as well as playing probably at his career best, as evidenced by the award of the Lance Todd Trophy two weeks ago.
The problem I had selecting a team was the relative lack of outstanding centres in the game.
A few months ago I thought that we had an exciting centre partnership lined up for the World Cup in Harry Newman of Leeds and Jake Wardle of Huddersfield.
Since then, however, Newman has suffered serious injury blows, while Wardle hasn’t kicked on as I thought he might, which is why I would revert to selecting Kallum Watkins in the right centre position.
Unfortunately there appear to be far more overseas centres in Super League than British ones.
Having said that, I’m looking forward to seeing who Shaun selects and how his team performs on Saturday.
For his sake and for all English supporters, I hope the All Stars are great opponents once again, but that this time the England team can come out on top.
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