England boss Shaun Wane gives first impressions of Hull KR pair Mikey Lewis and Jez Litten

Lewis and Litten are in contention to face France at the Halliwell Jones Stadium on Saturday after being named in Wane's shortened 19-man squad.

The uncapped Robins duo, who graduated from the England Knights programme, have been rewarded for their form at club level.

Wane views Lewis as a half-back that could slot into his systems and perform a similar role to George Williams.

"I like how he plays and he's trained really well," the England boss told The Yorkshire Post at Wednesday's press conference.

"I'm going to be picking the team this afternoon and it's not going to be easy. They've all trained well.

"I don't look at natural sixes and sevens; I look at two half-backs and want them to do very similar jobs. I see that in Mikey. Some of his touches in training have been so impressive but George did some good things as well and Jonny Lomax is a good player.

"We're in good shape with our halves but he needs to defend better and he needs to get better with some of his deception things – but so do George and Jonny.

"He's representing Hull KR in a really good way, and so is Jez Litten. He's been fantastic as well."

Lewis has caught the eye with his attacking ability ever since breaking onto the scene as a teenager in 2019, scoring 22 tries in 43 Super League games.

The 21-year-old has five tries and six assists to his name in his 10 outings for the high-flying Robins this season.

There was a question mark over his defence in his early days at the top level but Wane believes he is making strides in that aspect of his game without being the finished article.

"It's improving but it still needs to get better," added the former Wigan Warriors head coach, who is picking between Lewis and Harry Smith for the mid-season Test.

"I don't look at him playing for Hull KR against Hull; I visualise him defending against Samoa in a semi-final with 130kg athletes running at him."

Like Lewis, Litten has been an ever-present in KR's impressive start to the Super League campaign.

The 25-year-old has emerged as a key player for Rovers in recent years, bouncing off fellow hooker Matt Parcell to good effect.

He has largely played second fiddle to the Australian this season – making eight of his 10 appearances off the bench – but his contributions have not gone unnoticed.

Wane sees Litten as someone who could help plug the gap left by Michael McIlorum, England's first-choice hooker at last year's World Cup.

"I like him a lot," said Wane. "He's a good player.

"He's got good skills – his passing game is good, his deception is good.

"He defends above his weight and that's what you want. I like Micky Mac. He's 88kg but he defends like he's 105kg and so does Jez. You need that from those smaller men."