Nationality issue riles Brown as Giants star is ignored

Giants hooker Luke Robinson, who starred for England in the 2010 Four Nations, delivered yet another outstanding display against London Broncos to steer his side into the Challenge Cup semi-finals on Sunday.

However, he is currently not deemed good enough for McNamara’s 32-man elite training squad, which has left his club coach more than baffled.

Granted, there is plenty of competition for the No 9 role with St Helens’ irrepressible James Roby a certainty to start against the Exiles next month.

Leeds Rhinos’ Grand Final hero Rob Burrow plus Michael McIlorum at Super League leaders Wigan are also pushing hard.

However, it is the controversial inclusion of Catalan Dragons’ Ian Henderson – Torquay-born but raised in Australia – that has riled Brown most.

Given the Huddersfield chief is Australian himself, he cannot be accused of jingoism. When asked by the Yorkshire Post if Robinson’s recent omission was a surprise, Brown responded: “Robbo went to Australia (2010) and got player-of-the-tournament. Then he was man-of-the-match in the Exiles game (last June) but didn’t get picked after that.

“I feel sorry for him, especially when they put an Aussie ahead of him. Ian Henderson is an Australian. He is not a Pommy.

“If something looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it’s a duck, isn’t it? He looks Aussie and talks Aussie so I suppose he is an Aussie.”

Although Henderson – who represented Scotland in the 2008 World Cup – did underpin Catalan’s impressive start to the season, his inclusion when McNamara named his latest ETS in March did take many by surprise.

However, the England coach has already shown he is unafraid of stirring emotions when it comes to selecting his squads as he tries to improve national fortunes.

He picked Australian Chris Heighington for the Four Nations, the Wests Tigers’ second-row qualifying due to his father being from County Durham, while Castleford’s Man of Steel Rangi Chase was also drafted in despite being born in New Zealand and previously playing for the Maoris.

Brown, who coached Chase when he was in charge of NRL side St George Illawarra, was similarly scathing of that decision.

He said: “Rangi Chase is a good bloke and good friend of mine.

“But Rangi says ‘bro’ and has got Maori tattoos. That’s because he’s a Kiwi, not English. When you have good young players in Enland playing well, they should be selected in my opinion.”

Robinson famously postponed his own wedding 19 months ago to make his richly-deserved England debut and was one of the few shining lights on a dismal tour.

His dynamism was to the fore once more against the Exiles last summer and the former Castleford and Wigan player seemed set for a bright international career.

However, he was unexpectedly ignored for the 2011 tournament when his form dipped and has failed to make the cut again.

Brown continued: “Robbo is a tough character and handles himself well. He knew at the end of last year he wasn’t playing quite as well as the team was. He was busted and wasn’t going as well as he would have liked. Obviously, you support your own players but I’d like to think if he was going well, he’d get a chance.”

The diminutive Robinson, 27, scored twice and created another two as Huddersfield cruised past London 50-14.

Brown, however, refused to criticise McNamara insisting: “At the end of the day, the coach has to pick the best team he thinks because he’s the one on the line.

“But whoever Macca picks, that’s the one he likes. He shouldn’t pick a team that Nathan Brown likes because I’m not England coach. But I feel sorry for some of the English players. As I said, if something looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s not a cow, is it?”

Brown’s comments came soon after Castleford coach Ian Millward also queried McNamara’s hooker selection for the England Knights development squad.

He was mystified after Tigers’ highly-rated teenager Daryl Clark – who scored twice to help defeat Widnes last Monday – was snubbed for a “second-rower to play hooker”.