Hull KR captain Elliot Minchella backed for first England call-up after latest influential performance

The loose forward demonstrated his influence in Thursday's gritty 13-12 win at Castleford Tigers with a try in a commanding performance.

After rebuilding his career in the Championship with Sheffield Eagles and Bradford Bulls following an acrimonious exit from Leeds Rhinos, Minchella has become an integral part of KR's pack since his arrival in 2020.

The 28-year-old has done enough to earn a maiden England cap, according to his head coach.

"I certainly think Elliot Minchella should be in the team," said Peters.

"You're always going to look at your players and say a lot of them should be in the team because you see what they do every day.

"I've been fortunate to work with Elliot over the last couple of years and have seen his growth. He's got a great story – where he's come from and the adversity he's gone through.

"He's inspirational for us and a really important part of what we do. He's our captain, the leader of the club and is doing a great job."

Minchella is bidding to become the latest KR player to gain England honours after Jez Litten and Mikey Lewis made the step up last year.

Lewis and Litten both came up with big plays at Wheldon Road to help get Rovers over the line in a tight contest.

Peters does not expect Wane to be swayed either way by the latest performances of KR's England hopefuls.

"Shaun will probably have in his mind who he wants to go with," said Peters.

"Mini has been outstanding all year and Mikey was part of the group last year. There's Jez as well and Batch (James Batchelor) would certainly have been in contention before he got injured.

"I'm sure Shaun would agree it wasn't the most pretty game from us but we still dug in when we needed to.

"Mikey made some errors but he kept at it and that's what I was happy about.

"Where we are in the table, you'd like to think we'd get a couple in. Whoever doesn't make the team, they're not far off and just need to keep plugging away."

A fourth straight win took Rovers joint top of Super League heading into the international break.

While he was grateful for the two points, Peters has called for his team to find another gear on their return to action.

"The feel-good for us is looking at the table more so than what that game was but there is a long way to go," he said.

“We wanted to put ourselves in a strong position going into the international break and we are – but we certainly need to improve performance-wise."