Purtill names England Knights squad

England Knights coach Kieron Purtill has named a 19-man squad to face Ireland in the Alitalia European Cup fixture at Deramore Park, Belfast, on Saturday (6.00pm).

Purtill’s side will be captained by Hull FC’s Danny Houghton while 2012 Stobart Super League Grand Finalists Chris Riley, Mike Cooper, Ben Jones-Bishop and Shaun Lunt are amongst the likely starters.

“We’ve got a strong squad available and we’re putting pressure on ourselves to win and ensure we keep the legacy of previous Knights teams going,” said Purtill.

“Mark Ashton got his first win in charge of Ireland last week against Scotland and they’ve got the upper hand in the competition now so we have to go over there and make sure we get a result. That’s not going to be easy.

“Scotland were favourites for that game and we’ve watched the video and Ireland put in a very good performance. They have a lot of good pros like Liam Finn, who knows how to control a game, Tryone McCarthy and Greg McNally who add skill and guile and they have other threats all over the field.

“We’re focusing on playing our game though. We are a big team and we’ve talked about making sure we get off to an aggressive start and build on that and hopefully the result will follow.”

England Knights squad to play Ireland (professional and community club in brackets):

1 Chris Riley (Warrington Wolves, Woolston Rovers)
2 Kieran Dixon (London Broncos, Hemel Stags)
3 Jordan Turner (Hull FC, Waterhead)
4 Rhys Evans (Warrington Wolves, Burtonwood Bulldogs)
5 Jodie Broughton (Salford City Reds, Queens)
6 Dan Sarginson (London Broncos, Hemel Hempstead Stags)
7 Luke Gale (Bradford Bulls, Middleton Marauders)
8 Scott Taylor (Hull KR, Skirlaugh Bulls)
9 Danny Houghton (C) (Hull FC, East Hull )
10 George Burgess (South Sydney Rabbitohs, Dewsbury Moor)
11 Jack Hughes (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Judes)
12 Michael Lawrence (Huddersfield Giants, Newsome Panthers)
13 Mike Cooper (Warrington Wolves, Latchford Albion)
14 Tom Burgess (Bradford Bulls, Dewsbury Moor)
15 Shaun Lunt (Huddersfield Giants, Ellenborough Rangers)
16 Chris Clarkson (Leeds Rhinos, East Leeds)
17 Ben Jones-Bishop (Leeds Rhinos, Queens)
18 Daryl Clark (Castleford Tigers, Castleford Lock Lane)
19 Greg Eden (Huddersfield Giants, Castleford Lock Lane)

England begin their Alitalia European Cup campaign against Ireland in Belfast’s Deramore Park on Saturday October 20 (6.00pm) before taking on Scotland at the Meggetland Stadium, Edinburgh, on Sunday October 28 (2.00pm).