Leeds Rhinos captain Kruise Leeming will line up alongside three of his club-mates for the Combined Nations All Stars against England in Saturday’s mid-season international. Ellery Hanley’s team features players from seven different Super League clubs and will be skippered by Hull Kingston Rovers centre Shaun Kenny-Dowall.
Leeming will start on the bench as an interchange hooker but Rhyse Martin, Matt Prior and Zane Tetevano have all been named in the starting line-up. Seven players will be making their second appearance for the All Stars after featuring in last year’s 26-24 victory over England.
Leeming, Prior, Kenny Edwards, Peter Mata’utia, Chris Satae, Ken Sio and Kelepi Tanginoa are the returning faces for Hanley’s side, while the other ten players will be making their All Stars debuts. Hanley said: “It’s been a great week in camp and every single player has given their all, so it was tough to narrow it down to just 17.
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“However, I have the utmost trust in this group of players to go out there, give England a real game and get the win we’re all craving. The players who took part in last year’s fixture have experienced that feeling of beating England and want to do it again, and that desire has certainly been passed on to the new members of the squad.”
Both England and the Combined Nations All Stars will be wearing Tonga-inspired jerseys for the fixture, with 10% of all shirt sales going to the ongoing recovery efforts in Tonga following the volcano and tsunami earlier this year. To mark the connection, the Combined Nations All Stars side will be led out onto the pitch by Tongan internationals, Konrad Hurrell and Fuifui Moimoi.
Hanley added: “A few of the senior players asked whether Konrad and Fuifui would be able to lead us out due to their Tongan connections and what we’re raising money for. We’re keen to help the Tongan community as much as we can and when we asked them both to be involved they were really proud.”
Combined Nations All Stars team to face England:
Peter Mata'utia (Warrington Wolves)
Ken Sio (Salford Red Devils)
Rhyse Martin (Leeds Rhinos)
Shaun Kenny-Dowall (Hull KR)
Mahe Fonua (Castleford Tigers)
Jacob Miller (Wakefield Trinity)
Brodie Croft (Salford Red Devils)
Ligi Sao (Hull FC)
Daryl Clark (Warrington Wolves)
Zane Tetevano (Leeds Rhinos)
Kenny Edwards (Castleford Tigers)
Kelepi Tanginoa (Wakefield Trinity)
Matt Prior (Leeds Rhinos)
Interchange
Kruise Leeming (Leeds Rhinos)
Joe Lovodua (Hull FC)
Chris Satae (Hull FC)
David Fifita (Wakefield Trinity)
