Eight Saints in England Training Squad

Welsby was named 18th man for England in last years All Stars game, but is included in the training squad this time around. He is joined by Matty Lees who jumps up from the Knights to the senior squad after impressive performances for Saints, whilst Dodd is also called up to the senior training squad for the first time after starring at scrum half for the Champions at the back end of last season and into 2022.

Senior figures, Tommy Makinson, Mark Percival, Jonny Lomax, Alex Walmsley and Morgan Knowles are all included as expected.

𝐄𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐒𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐝 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Eight Saints have been named in Shaun Wane’s first @England_RL training squad for 2022, including senior call-ups for Matty Lees, Jack Welsby and Lewis Dodd… Well done lads! 👏

Read more 👇#COYS

— St.Helens R.F.C. (@Saints1890) March 1, 2022

The year ahead 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.

30 of the best Betfred Super League players will come together at Headingley Stadium, Leeds, on Tuesday 15 March – 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).

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.

England Head Coach Shaun Wane said: “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.”

Training squad in full

John Bateman (Wigan Warriors)

Daryl Clark (Warrington Wolves)

Mike Cooper (Warrington Wolves)

Ben Currie (Warrington Wolves)

Thomas 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)

Matthew 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)

Further England training sessions will take place in April, May, July and August.

Details of June’s mid-season international versus the Combined Nations All Stars will be announced on Friday 4 March.

England play Fiji in a World Cup warm-up match at Rochdale on Friday 7 October.

RLWC2021 begins on Saturday 15 October, with England versus Samoa at St James’s Park, Newcastle.