Steve McNamara includes five new players in England’s 2011 Four Nations training squad - Rugby
England national rugby head coach, Steve McNamara, has announced the inclusion of five new players including St Helen’s young half back Jonny Lomax in England’s initial squad for their 2011 Four Nations tournament.
McNamara made the announcement on Wednesday, July 20th to strengthen his squad ahead of their upcoming 2011 Four Nations tournament.
The Four Nations tournament is a Rugby League tournament that is held annually. In this year’s tournament, the National Rugby League teams of England, Australia, Wales and New Zealand will compete against each other. England and Wales jointly host this year’s
tournament, which will kick start on October 28, at Warrington, England.
McNamara has announced the inclusion of five new players in his Elite Training Squad (ETS) for their 2011 Four Nations preparations. Besides Lomax, other players included in the squad are Warrington Warriors duo of Garreth Carvell and Ryan Atkins, Hull
Kingston Rovers’ centre Kirk Yeaman, and Leeds lock Jamie Jones Buchanan.
Commenting on the inclusion of the five fresh players in the ETS, McNamara confirmed that they earned the spot in the squad because of their strong performance in the season. He added, “Ryan Atkins, Garreth Carvell and Jamie Jones Buchanan were all in the
squad for the International Origin match whilst the other two have been impressive for some time.”
Commenting on Lomax, McNamara said, “Jonny joins the ETS from the Knights squad and has impressed me with the progress he has made this year. He's a smashing young man and I'm looking forward to working with him in the ETS.”
The five players named in the ETS are announced as the replacements for Hull Kingston Rovers’ duo of Liam Watts and Peter Fox, St Helens’ prop Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Leeds scrum-half Rob Burrow, and Harlequins Rugby League’s centre Tony Clubb.
McNamara added that Fox has been dropped from the squad following his poor form. While Watts has been dropped from the squad following the suspension handed down to him by the Rovers’ for breaching club discipline.
The England ETS will gather for their training camp on August 14 at Loughborough University. As part of their 2011 Four Nations tournament, England will play two warm up matches against France at Avignon and against Wales at Leigh respectively.
The England national rugby league’s 32-man squad includes,
Ryan Atkins, Chris Bridge (both Warrington), Tom Briscoe (Hull), Danny Brough (Huddersfield), Garreth Carvell (Warrington), Eorl Crabtree, Leroy Cudjoe (both Huddersfield), Brett Ferres (Castleford), James Graham (St Helens), Ryan Hall (Leeds), Ben Harrison
(Warrington), Ben Jones-Bishop, Jamie Jones-Buchanan (both Leeds), Jonny Lomax (St Helens), Danny McGuire (Leeds), Michael McIlorum (Wigan), Adrian Morley, Richie Myler (both Warrington), Sean O'Loughlin (Wigan), Jamie Peacock (Leeds), Paul Prescott (Wigan),
Leon Pryce (St Helens), Luke Robinson (Huddersfield), James Roby, Michael Shenton (both St Helens), Kevin Sinfield (Leeds), Joel Tomkins, Sam Tomkins (both Wigan), Kris Welham (Hull KR), Ben Westwood (Warrington), Jon Wilkin (St Helens), Kirk Yeaman (Hull).
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