Kallum Watkins injury update & England to bring in fresh duo for Greece test
England coach Shaun Wane provided a positive update on Kallum Watkins after the in-form centre was forced to leave the field in their win over France.
Watkins suffered a nasty head clash in England’s 42-18 win over France in Bolton on Saturday. He didn’t return to the action after failing a head injury assessment.
England, who have won two from two, will be without Watkins for their match against Greece on Saturday at Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane.
“He’s good, he’s a lot better now,” Wane said after their win over France.
“He had a head clash, I don’t know how it happened, but he was out for a while. He’s good, he will be good in a few weeks.”
Who replaces Kallum Watkins against Greece?
So who will fill the void left by Watkins for their final group game against the Greeks?
“We can put Jack Welsby there, Batty (John Bateman) has played there,” Wane said. “We’ve got lots of good options.
“One thing we do have as a country is that we have really good spirit. The people we have left out today, the way they behave is fantastic with the way the staff get behind the detail.
“We lose Kallum but someone else will come in and do a really good job and that’s the ‘big team, little me’ attitude.”
England to bring in fresh duo for Greek test
Kai Pearce-Paul and Joe Batchelor are the only players yet to feature for England in this World Cup, but Wane confirmed they will both win their first caps next weekend.
“We lost Mike McMeeken, Mike Cooper, Tommy Makinson and a few others, and I just couldn’t make 10 changes (for France),” Wane said.
“It would have been disrespectful to France and it would have been the wrong thing to do, and when you look at the way the game panned out, it was probably the right thing, so they’ll get their chance against Greece.”
A win for England against Greece next week would see Wane’s men top their group heading into the quarter-finals.
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