HULL KR boss Willie Peters urged players to stake their England claims against Wigan Warriors away next weekend – after several contenders impressed in their victory against Castleford Tigers.
Jez Litten scored a smart try for Rovers – and there was also a hat-trick again from Joe Burgess, highlighting how capable he is of becoming a strong candidate.
After being questioned about Burgess’s England hopes, Peters said: “I could talk about a number of our players.
“We’ve got a hooker (Litten) who I believe should be in the conversation. When you break his game up, he’s got a complete game in terms of what he can do. It’s just consistency that he needed to work on and he’s been one of our most consistent.
“At the end of the day, it’s up to Shaun (Wane, England coach) who he decides to go with. But Joe’s going to be in the conversations. I’d like to think there are a number of guys who they are thinking about.
“All they can do is play well. I think next weekend is important. These players, if they want to be in Shaun’s mind, then go play well against the best in the competition, the team that won four trophies last year. Go play well over there, in their backyard.”
Asked about the prospect of next weekend’s game being pivotal to the League Leaders’ Shield outcome, he replied: “I think it’s too long to go. There’s five rounds after that.
“When you’ve got Leigh playing the way they are, and you’ve got St Helens now, and you’ve got Leeds, nobody is safe.
“Today got us in the semis – we are cemented in the semis but that doesn’t mean we are cemented as one, two, three or four. It’ll work itself out.”
On the win over Cas, the KR head coach said: “I thought our defence was good for the majority of that game.
“But if you look at that second half, if Louis Senior had scored that try, then there would have been four points’ difference – and then it’s game on.
“It was game on regardless, but if they did score then who knows what happens off the back of that.
“What I did like was that there were a lot of good things that we did do which put a lot of fatigue into them and then the points come.
“Will that performance cut it next weekend? No it won’t. But a win’s a win.”