England's first-choice halves pairing has been forced out of tomorrow's Pacific rugby league test against Samoa.
Gareth Widdop and George Williams have set up 24 tries and scored 11 this season, with St George Illawarra stand-off Widdop the NRL's leading pointscorer and Williams the Super League's best player in the first few months, but both have been ruled out with knee injuries.
Kevin Brown and Luke Gale represented England at last year's Four Nations and will step into the six and seven jerseys against Toa Samoa, with Chris McQueen and Chris Heighington named on the bench.
Luke Gale and Kevin Brown will start in the halves against Samoa. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
English skipper Sean O'Loughlin said the duo were capable of getting the job done and in the process pushing for a place on the plane for the end-of-year World Cup.
"Both the halves that have come in are playing good footballers so they're not coming in underdone," O'Loughlin said.
"As much as Wayne (Bennett) would want to see those two guys (Widdop and Williams) out there, having two new halves gives us a bit more depth when it comes to the end of the season and the World Cup, it gives us some other options."
Anthony Milford will be back in the halves for Samoa on Saturday. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
On a limited preparation, with many players in the squad losing a few days due to travel from England, head coach Bennett hasn't asked for too much from his squad and is relying on the structures he put in place during last year's Four Nations.
"When you come in just for a week, especially coming in from England, and there's not a massive lot of new things we're going to be doing and just backing up some of the stuff we did last year," O'Loughlin said.
"He's just going out there and letting us play, he's set us some guidelines that he wants everyone to play within."
England: Stefan Ratchford, Jermaine McGillvary, Kallum Watkins, Zak Hardaker, Ryan Hall, Kevin Brown, Luke Gale, Sam Burgess, Josh Hodgson, James Graham, Mike McMeeken, Elliott Whitehead, Sean O'Loughlin. Res: Chris Hill, Chris Heighington, Chris McQueen, Thomas Burgess.
- AAP
