Eight players to make England debuts against France

Eight players will make their England debut when they face France at Leigh Sports Village on Wednesday night.

England face France at the Leigh Sports Village on Wednesday (7:45pm) in a warm-up game for their three-match Test series against New Zealand this autumn.

Jamie Shaul, Tom Johnstone, Reece Lyne and Oliver Holmes will start, while Adam Milner, Luke Thompson, Robbie Mulhern and Liam Sutcliffe will start as interchanges.

Five of the eight players set to make their debut have been called up from the England Knights squad. They will re-join the Knights squad after Wednesday’s game, with the squad departing on Thursday for a three-week trip which includes two internationals against Papua New Guinea.

England team to face France: Jamie Shaul; Tom Johnstone, Reece Lyne, Mark Percival, Jermaine McGillvary; Richie Myler, Jake Connor; James Graham, Josh Hodgson, Tom Burgess, Oliver Holmes, Elliott Whitehead, George Burgess. Subs: Adam Milner, Luke Thompson, Robbie Mulhern, Liam Sutcliffe.

France 19-man squad: Bastien Ader, Lucas Albert, Jason Baitieri, William Barthau, Lambert Belmas, Ilias Bergal, Rhys Curran, Alrix Da Costa, Bastien Escamilla, Morgan Escare, Theo Fages, Tony Gigot, Mickael Goudemand, Benjamin Jullien, Paul Marcon, Thibault Margalet, Hakim Miloudi, Romain Navarrete, Justin Sangare.