Nearing 32 years-old, Marc Sneyd thought his only England involvement would forever be limited to a one-off team meeting where he didn’t even get a polo shirt.
The Salford scrum-half has long been one of Super League’s leading playmakers but international honours have always eluded him. Until now. He’s set for an England debut against Fiji on Friday night where he hopes to impress enough to earn a spot for next week’s World Cup opener versus Samoa. Yet Sneyd, who won the Lance Todd Trophy in 2016 and 2017 after masterminding Hull’s Challenge Cup glories, almost ignored coach Shaun Wane’s surprise message.
He explained: “I don’t pick the phone up to random numbers. But he WhatsApped called me so his face popped up and I thought I’d better answer it! Obviously, I was chuffed. I’m not an emotional person but it caught me off guard so much I did get a bit overwhelmed. I never thought it was going to happen and being a World Cup year it’s quite significant.
