England Universities Head Coach Richard Tate has finalised his 20 Man Squad to travel to Ireland next week for the 2022 Student Tri-Nations Competition.
The squad will face Scotland (Wednesday 22nd June) and Ireland (Saturday 25th June) at the National University of Ireland in Galway, whilst Ireland host Scotland on Sunday 19th June. All games will take place at the National University of Ireland in Galway and kick off at 2.30pm.
Unfortunately operational issues have prevented Wales from fielding a team this year but with co-operation with Scotland Rugby League, the Rugby Football League and Rugby League Ireland an alternative format and schedule has been devised and all teams are now raring to go following a two-year hiatus owing to the global pandemic.
Alex Eckley and Sean Croston are England’s only players to have played Student International Test Matches previously, with 17 of the rest of the squad having first played for England this year and Nathan Taylor having played in the domestic leg of the 2019 programme.
Despite the new faces, Tate is not short of experienced players, with Christian Gale (London Skolars), Michael Holden (West Wales Raiders), Sean Croston, Jordan Bull, Nathan Newbound (Midlands Hurricanes) and Eckley (North Wales Crusaders) all with first grade experience and Leon Stewart, Harry Trulson (Hull FC), Max Flanagan (Newcastle Thunder) and Taylor (Salford Red Devils) with Academy or Reserve Grade experience.
And with 14 Universities represented across the squad, ranging from Newcastle and Northumbria to Gloucestershire and London South Bank, the national appeal of the student game is evident and demonstrates the quality of player playing Rugby League across the country each week.
"I'd like to congratulate the 20 players who have been selected for the final part of our programme and our trip to Ireland," commented Tate.
"We had some very impressive performances in the first phase of the programme, including a solid team performance in our win over UK Armed Forces, and it made selection very difficult. We're very focussed on getting the job done in Ireland and looking forward to playing full internationals again after a two-year break!"
England Squad In Full:
- Adam Lavin (Lancaster)
- Alex Eckley (Liverpool John Moores)
- Ben Bradshaw (Hull)
- Cameron Brown (Liverpool John Moores)
- Charlie McCurrie (Leicester)
- Christian Gale (London South Bank)
- Elliott Jones (Hull)
- Harry Trulson (Hull FC Sports College)
- Jack Cherry (Nottingham)
- Jack Quinn (Northumbria)
- Joe Riley (Leeds)
- Jordan Bull (Leeds Beckett)
- Kellen Wood (Liverpool John Moores)
- Leon Stewart (Hull)
- Matty Rudd (Manchester Metropolitan)
- Max Flanagan (Newcastle)
- Michael Holden (Gloucestershire)
- Nathan Newbound (Northumbria)
- Nathan Taylor (Liverpool John Moores)
- Sean Croston (Northumbria)
- Richard Tate (Head Coach)
- Kevin Deighton (Assistant Coach)
- James Strudwick (S&C Coach)
- Keith Burnett (Therapist)
- David Butler (Team Manager)
