Warrington’s Chris Hill is the only Wolves player to be named in Wayne Bennett’s 20-man England squad, which will face Samoa next month in Sydney at the Campbelltown Sports Ground. Hill has been capped 18 times by his country and could start at prop in the test match.
The game against Samoa comes midway through the Super League season, where Wolves are lying as low as ninth in the table after 11 games. They have recorded just four victories, although their form has improved more recently as they have had good wins over Leeds, Huddersfield and Widnes.
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Hill made his debut for England back in 2012 during the Autumn series against Wales. Since then, he has been consistently called up into the national squad. The Wolves man featured in all five of his country’s games at the 2013 World Cup, where the host nation lost to New Zealand 20-18 in a tight semi-final contest at Wembley.
The England squad for the trip to Sydney will feature three uncapped players as Mike McMeeken has been rewarded for some impressive performances for Castleford this season; Chris McQueen, who applies his trade for NRL side Gold Coast Titans, has been handed a place; while St Helens’ Alex Walmsley also features.
Bennett is delighted with the timing of the game against Samoa. He told BBC Sport: “I’m very pleased that we have this chance to play mid-season.
“It gives the team a chance to work and spend time together and allows my coaching team and I the opportunity to take a closer look at how the players can rise to the challenge of playing against a tough and uncompromising opponent.”
England will travel down to Australia at the back end of 2017 for the Rugby League World Cup. They are a top price of 10/1 with the bookmakers to win that competition, but if you are looking to back Bennett’s side you may wish to take a look at the new betting sites who offer sign-up bonuses that you can use on the tournament later this year. Australia are the strong odds-on favourites at 2/5 to defend the title they won in 2013, while New Zealand are second best in the betting and are available at 11/4.
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The opening game at the 2017 World Cup will see England test themselves against Australia in Grou. They will then take on Lebanon and have two games against France. Warrington’s Hill will be expecting to be part of the squad for the tournament, while Stefan Ratchford, Ryan Atkins, Daryl Clark and Joe Westerman will also be pushing for places.
England have not reached the final of a World Cup since 1995. They went down 15-8 to Australia that year. The last three finals have been played out by Australia and New Zealand. The latter caused an upset in 2008 as they defeated their rivals 34-20 when they were huge underdogs going into the game. This year’s final will take place on December 2 at the Brisbane Stadium.
