Shaun Wane has named his 19-man England squad to face off against Samoa with five men, including a Wigan Warriors star, missing out.
England will take on Samoa on Sunday at Wigan Warriors’ Brick Community Stadium in the first meeting of the two sides since the heartbreak of the 2021 World Cup semi-final.
Samoa defeated hosts England at the Emirates with a golden point drop goal from Stephen Crichton breaking English hearts, something that Shaun Wane has often spoken about.
He now gets his chance for vengeance with this two-Test series against Samoa and Wane has named his 19-man squad for the first Test.
Cutting his 24-man squad down to 19 will have been a brutal process with players such as Elliot Minchella having already been left out of the initial 24-man squad.
Now though, the matchday squad is confirmed and a Wigan Warriors star is a shock omission.
That man is Super League’s leading try-scorer from the 2024 campaign, Liam Marshall, who is still yet to debut for England.
Marshall is one of two Wigan Warriors men to miss out on the 19-man squad, however, Luke Thompson misses due to suspension after he copped a one-game ban after the Grand Final against Hull KR.
With Marshall missing out, it seems certain that Dom Young and Matty Ashton will be the starting wingers with Ashton close behind Marshall on the try-scoring charts this season anyway,
The three other men to miss out are veteran forward Chris Hill, hooker Danny Walker and NRL forward Morgan Smithies.
Walker missing out is a sure-fire nod to Daryl Clark starting at nine whilst Smithies and Hill are victims of England’s huge pack depth.
The full 19-man squad can be seen below.
Matty Ashton
John Bateman
Tom Burgess
Ben Currie
Daryl Clark
Herbie Farnworth
Ethan Havard
Morgan Knowles
Matty Lees
Mikey Lewis
Mike McMeeken
Harry Newman
Junior Nsemba
Kai Pearce-Paul
Victor Radley
Harry Smith
Jack Welsby
George Williams
Dom Young