England can do “something special” says Marc Sneyd as half-back fights for starting spot

Josh McAllister
Marc Sneyd

Marc Sneyd believes he’s done all he can to try and earn a starting spot for England, who can do something special according to the Salford half-back.

Sneyd, 31, made his England debut against Fiji, having been called into the squad by Shaun Wane for the World Cup.

It was a dream first appearance for the Oldham-born player, kicking seven goals to help towards a 50-0 win at Salford’s AJ Bell Stadium.

Now, he faces an anxious wait to see if it was enough to earn a spot for the opener against Samoa next Saturday in Newcastle. 

Marc Sneyd: ‘I’ve done all I can to this point’

“I’ve done all I can to this point” Sneyd said. “We’ll see what happens towards the end of the week.

“I was obviously chuffed to bits making my debut, over the moon. But more importantly, I performed well and I think everybody performed pretty well. We’ve put ourselves in the right direction for the World Cup.

“It’s my first experience of it but all the lads have been incredible, as you’d expect. I’ve kind of settled in there now. I’m looking forward to what happens over the next couple of months.

“We’ve got players here that can do something special.”

George Williams is expected to start for England throughout the campaign, and linked up with Sneyd for the first time on Friday.

The Warrington playmaker was encouraged by his new partnership with Sneyd, while Jack Welsby is also in the mix for a spot. 

It was really good,” Williams said. “We had a couple of sets when we went a bit astray but, considering we’d never played together, we got around the park pretty well.

“His kicking game is probably the best in the comp and he did that well. He showed a few nice touches and got us out of yardage a couple of times.”

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