England coach Shaun Wane has looked to youth ahead of the World Cup in his first training squad of the year.
Wane last week named a 30-strong group to meet up next Tuesday (15 March) at Headingley, including seven uncapped players.
Among those are St Helens pair Jack Welsby and Lewis Dodd, both 20, and Wigan Warriors’ 21-year-old Kai Pearce-Paul.
“Their skillset is good,” said Wane, on why Welsby and Dodd made his squad.
“No matter where Jack Welsby plays, he does a great job. He has the fundamental skills and he seems fit and really talented.
“Same with Lewis, he plays straight, he’s confident, some of the things he’s done this year were outstanding.
“He has all the attributes I like in a half and they’re playing in a really good team. It’s going to be an easy fit with England.”
On Pearce-Paul, Wane added: “He offers something different, he’s a good ball carrier, he can play back-row and centre, he’s got a very good offload.
“As time has gone by, he’s become a good one-on-one defender as well, so I can see him playing Test match rugby.”
Harry Newman (22) and Jake Wardle (23) have also been called up to add some depth as well as youth to the centre positions, and Wane has encouraged them to look up to senior player Mark Percival.
“I’m very pleased (with the depth), and there’s Oliver Gildart, Mark Percival, and we’ve got numbers now to really challenge them,” said Wane.
“There’s certain things I want from my centres and all the players know. I want to see a certain toughness, a certain skill level from my centres. That’s what Mark Percival delivers so they’ve got a great role model to look up to.”
Saints’ Matty Lees and Wigan’s Liam Marshall complete the list on uncapped players to make the cut, while Hull KR’s Ryan Hall earned a recall, but there was no room for the likes of Jake Connor and Gareth Widdop.
However, Wane has insisted that every player remains in his thoughts and that players omitted from the selection could still play in their mid-season international against the Combined Nations All Stars at Warrington’s Halliwell Jones Stadium on Saturday 18 June.
“I will be watching them all on and off the field – and they will pay for any slip-ups,” he added.
England training squad: John Bateman (Wigan Warriors), Daryl Clark (Warrington Wolves), Mike Cooper (Warrington Wolves), Ben Currie (Warrington Wolves), Tom Davies (Catalans Dragons), Lewis Dodd (St Helens), Niall Evalds (Castleford Tigers), Liam Farrell (Wigan Warriors), Ryan Hall (Hull KR), Zak Hardaker (Wigan Warriors), Morgan Knowles (St Helens), Kruise Leeming (Leeds Rhinos), Matty Lees (St Helens), Jonny Lomax (St Helens), Reece Lyne (Wakefield Trinity), Jermaine McGillvary (Huddersfield Giants), Paul McShane (Castleford Tigers), Tommy Makinson (St Helens), Liam Marshall (Wigan Warriors), Harry Newman (Leeds Rhinos), Mikolaj Oledzki (Leeds Rhinos), Kai Pearce-Paul (Wigan Warriors), Mark Percival (St Helens), Stefan Ratchford (Warrington Wolves), Dan Sarginson (Salford Red Devils), Sam Tomkins (Catalans Dragons), Alex Walmsley (St Helens), Jake Wardle (Huddersfield Giants), Jack Welsby (St Helens), George Williams (Warrington Wolves)
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