England Ones to watch: Wigan v St Helens derby

[josie andrews]

A FOCUS ON THE ENGLAND HOPEFULS FEATURING IN THE WIGAN WARRIORS V ST HELENS DERBY CLASH ON GOOD FRIDAY.

Plenty of England hopefuls will aim to stake their claim for selection in May’s Pacific Test series match with Samoa, as Wigan Warriors take on local rivals St Helens on Good Friday.

Joe Burgess returns to the fold for the Warriors, after missing the last month due to a knee injury.

The winger scored three tries in the opening three rounds of Super League as well as bagging a hat-trick in the World Club Challenge win over Cronulla Sharks.

He’ll want to hit the ground running on his return to Super League action to aide his pursuit of selection alongside the likes of Ryan Hall and Jermaine McGillvary.


George Williams will be expecting a great reception from the Cherry and White faithful after shrugging off interest from the NRL by putting pen-to-paper on a new deal keeping him at the DW Stadium until 2021.

The stand-off has been the star of both Wigan’s and the Super League season so far in 2017, with five tries and eight try assists.

Second-row Liam Farrell returned from a spell on the sidelines last Thursday, when Wigan took on the league leaders Castleford Tigers.


Wigan’s captain Sean O’Loughlin could also make his return after a three-week lay-off, after being named in Shaun Wane’s 19-man squad.

Farrell and O’Loughlin are set to be joined by Micky McIlorum, twice capped by England, making Wigan’s forward pack looking rather more formidable ahead of the Good Friday clash.

St Helens fans will be hoping their side provide a reaction following this week’s departure of head coach Kieron Cunningham, as so often happens when a coach leaves.

Cunningham may have left but Mark Percival put pen-to-paper on a new four-year deal at the Totally Wicked Stadium after a brilliant start to the campaign.

The centre particularly shone against Hull FC and Catalans Dragons and has one of the best clean break records in Super League, with 15 in 2017.

Fullback Jonny Lomax is also pushing for selection for the Samoa test after winning his first four England caps last autumn.

After missing the start of the season with a broken leg, Matty Smith will need to impress in the next few games to have a sniff of making the Pacific Test.

He impressed on his first appearance back for St Helens against Warrington, with a top notch kicking game and assist, and will want to prove a point when he returns to the DW Stadium today.

Prop Kyle Amor is the other Elite Performance Squad member set to play in the Good Friday derby clash.

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