The England squad selection is a story of redemption, renewal and new birth.
Against the Combined Nations All Stars, there’s four debutants and also some who you could almost call ‘second’ debutants. I’d like to look at the latter, in particular Micky McIlorum, Ryan Hall and Kallum Watkins. It’s great to see Micky’s been brought back into the England squad for the first time since 2013.
It’s brilliant that almost ten years later, in the twilight of his career, he can still play well enough to get back in for his country. Watching Micky with Catalans, he’s playing as well as ever. He’s always been an aggressive player and England will need that against the All Stars. They’ll need line speed against their big forwards.
