England boss Shaun Wane is 'disaster-planning' ahead of the World Cup and preparing to cancel ANOTHER training session.
Wane had already seen his first practice of the year rubbed out last month due to a raft of injuries. And he’s revealed England training date on May 3 - just four days before the Betfred Challenge Cup semi-finals - is also in jeopardy. “It’s looking like it’s going to be cancelled,” said Wane, whose side kick-off the World Cup against Samoa in Newcastle on October 15.
“We’re not going to get on the field so it’ll be an off-feet session again which is definitely not ideal. But unfortunately, the way games are going - and a few clubs have a big few weeks coming up - I’m trying to bend and do the best I can for Super League clubs.
“I’m also trying to get as much work into the potential World Cup players as I can. I need the players together. Having very, very small numbers on the field is no good to us.”
St Helens scrum-half Lewis Dodd, who was playing his way into Wane’s World Cup squad, was ruled out for the season after being injured on Good Friday. The coach was also in attendance when he saw Wigan’s rising star Kai Pearce-Paul limp off against Salford last month.
England captain Sam Tomkins and fellow squad members Harry Newman, Niall Evalds and Dan Sarginson are all crocked. Wane concedes there’s trepidation whenever he watches games.
“Yes, there is that,” said the coach, who will speak to uncapped Newcastle Knights’ ex-Huddersfield winger Dom Young to see if he wants to represent England when he heads to NRL Magic Round next month.
“But it’s a good lesson for us as England coaches that we can’t get to the Samoa game and think we’ve done it. We need to make sure lots of players are ready to go. That’s our job.
“Losing Lewis and Kai has been a blow but it’s a really good lesson to us that we can’t wait until after the event. We need to deal with the disaster now. A disaster would be losing five starters from my first 17 against Samoa and if we do that we need our younger end coming in and doing a good job.”
Meanwhile, England football manager Gareth Southgate is set to play a part in Wane’s World Cup plans. He was a guest speaker at Wane’s first get-together with his elite training squad in Manchester and, according to the Wiganer, will be a spectator for the opener against Samoa.
“He’s going to get involved with other sessions and come to games in the World Cup,” Wane said. “He loves his league and he loves his sport. He spoke very well to the players. He sat through the meeting and we were the last to leave the hotel. He had lots of questions, I can see why he’s a successful manager, his thirst for learning is very much like mine.
“He sent me a long message the day after about what he got from the meeting which was really impressive. We’re going to bring in many more speakers. It’s always a good message for players to hear about other sports and other ideas how to make things better.”
Wigan’s Jai Field and Catalans’ Mitchell Pearce are the sort of quality players set to be named in the Combined Nations All Stars’ 30-man squad tomorrow for their June 18 clash with England.
