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John Ledger: Chance to reclaim credibility on international stage
NO-ONE should overlook the significance of events at the Stade Jean Bouin tomorrow when a new-look England team face France in the Gillette Fusion International in Paris.
The result may be the closest thing since Gateshead versus St Helens to a foregone conclusion and there may be a host of familiar faces missing from the England team but that should not detract from the importance of the fixture.
This is England's first run-out since their ill-fated World Cup campaign last year when a squad featuring few surprises singularly failed to do itself justice Down Under, falling to New Zealand (twice) and Australia after scraping an unconvincing victory over Papua New Guinea.
It would have been easy for national coach Tony Smith to keep faith with most of the players who were involved in the trip to Australia and offer them an opportunity for redemption against a French team which also failed to cover itself in World Cup glory.
Instead, Smith has taken the opportunity to see how some of the players who were on the fringes of World Cup selection fare in a representative environment and give the likes of Shaun Briscoe, Peter Fox, Ryan Atkins and Richard Myler the chance to prove that he was wrong to leave them behind.
With six Super League matches this weekend, Smith could not have drawn as heavily on Leeds and St Helens as he did last autumn and the presence of players from every English top-flight club bar Hull gives his 19-man squad a balance usually reserved for Australia teams.
Another reason for that diversity is the continuing impact of the salary cap, which is distributing the game's top talent across a broader spectrum of clubs, a process which will, hopefully, lead to greater intensity within Super League, even if the most immediate impact has been a diminution in standards.
The mid-season international can go a long way towards tackling that worrying shortcoming by virtue of the impact it will have on both the players who have spent the week in the French capital and those who are facing a weekend in more prosaic locations across the M62 corridor.
Many of the established internationals who will be involved in Super League action over the next three days have much to prove between now and the Four Nations Championship at the end of the season with players such as Leon Pryce, Rob Burrow, Gareth Raynor and Sean O'Loughlin having every incentive to produce their best form consistently.
Just as was the case with predecessors Brian Noble and David Waite, Smith's options in recent years have been somewhat limited by a lack of depth, a situation which can only improve by his selection policy for tomorrow's game.
The squad features a few surprises, particularly in the inclusion of some players whose form hardly merits selection, even though there are few doubts about their credentials. Sam Burgess and Joe Westerman are two such players, young men whose form has dipped through over-exertion on the Super League treadmill and whose careers could be reinvigorated by their involvement in the mid-season Test.
England will have to wait until October to really make amends for their World Cup flop but tomorrow's match could prove to be the defining moment in their bid to reclaim credibility.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Sunday 12 February 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 1 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
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Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 4 C to 8 C
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