Scrum half picked for Four Nations tour has to tell fiancée big day will have to wait... and it won't be Cyprus

THE call to his boss should have been a congratulatory affair offering thanks for putting him on the verge of becoming an England international.

However, rugby league star Luke Robinson did not really want to speak to Huddersfield Giants chief Nathan Brown. Instead, he was more concerned with urgently speaking to the Australian’s wife.

The scrum-half needed to ask for some much-needed advice – how did he tell his fiance their wedding, the biggest day of their lives, planned for three weeks time and fully two years in the making, was now off so he could play rugby in New Zealand and Australia?

Rarely has there been a more pressing need for insight into a woman’s heart.

Recent days have been a whirlwind of mixed emotions for Robinson. The Super League player has hastily postponed his October 25 nuptials in Cyprus and missed his own stag-do in Las Vegas to fly out with England for their Four Nations tour.

He freely admits he has now subsequently incurred the wrath of his future mother-in-law even before tying the knot, but girlfriend Laura Towler has been slightly more understanding.

“I’ve not been kicked out of home,” said the 26-year-old from Halifax. “There’s been a few tears shed, a lot of heart to heart but she’s fully behind me.

“She said it’s a once-in-a-life opportunity.... although she was crying as she was saying it.

“It’s been a childhood dream to play for my country and I felt I couldn’t turn it down.

“Obviously, I wouldn’t be marrying the girl if she didn’t understand what rugby means to me. She realises this is the pinnacle of a player’s career and I love her even more now.

“She’s still going to Cyprus with 60-odd of my family and friends, and six of my mates are heading for Vegas without me.

“There have been a few difficult phone calls to people, explaining they’re going to my wedding that I’m not going to be at.”

Robinson should have been departing for Las Vegas today and, as the former Castleford star packs his bags for a dream trip of his own, he had to have another tough conversation with his best man.

“He lives in Australia and paid to come back over to go to Vegas and then Cyprus all for me,” said the uncapped player, whose first inkling he might make Steve McNamara’s squad only came last week.

“I met him for a drink on Saturday to explain everything but I might have messed up his visa application as well so that didn’t go down well either.

Robinson, who departs for New Zealand on Friday, concedes the couple will have lost thousands of pounds on their big day but insisted: “The money side doesn’t come into it.If you’d have asked me as a kid, I’d have paid a million pounds to play for my country.”

Robinson, who conceded Laura might have her eye on a new car as a potential sweetener for the inconvenience, said there was always a slight risk their wedding day might get knocked out. “Laura’s a history teacher at Ryburn School in Halifax and so, the only time our holidays co-incide are the October half-term holidays,” he said.

“We booked the wedding two years ago. I knew it was a time England could potentially be playing but we had to hedge our bets.

“The mother-in-law’s gone a little crackers at me. She kept saying over and over again ‘What happens if you get picked for England?’ and our response was ‘we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it’. Now it has come to it.”

The pair will instead tie the knot at a church in Coley, near Northowram, Halifax, in November, a week after the Four Nations final in Brisbane and will have a reception at the Casa Hotel in Brighouse.

“It’s not the Cyprus wedding she wanted, but she’s still getting married,” said Robinson, one of six Huddersfield players to be named.

And how did Mrs Brown suggest he broach the whole subject? “I’ll just say she probably gave better advice than Nathan.”

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England news: Page 19.