Matty Ashton sends powerful England statement on long-awaited Warrington return

314 days on from his last game, Matty Ashton returned with a bang for Warrington: scoring a hat-trick in their thumping win over Castleford to evidence exactly why he must be an England starter when the World Cup comes around.

Ashton suffered injuries to his Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) and Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) during Wire’s Challenge Cup semi-final victory against Leigh Leopards last May. 

That meant he missed out on a cup final appearance, but perhaps more importantly, England’s three Tests in the Ashes Series against Australia.

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Matty Ashton sends powerful England statement on long-awaited Warrington return

Within ten minutes of his return against Cas on Saturday afternoon, the Halliwell Jones Stadium were celebrating his first try, put in for a walk-in by Toby King.

Before that, he’d shown a clean pair of heels to wheel away and earn valuable metres, showing no signs of rustiness.

That was the first of plenty of breaks on the day from the five-time England international, who has six tries to his name on the international stage already.

Before half-time against the Tigers on Saturday, when Warrington headed into the sheds 32-6 to the good, Ashton had a second try as he blitzed Mikaele Ravalawa in a race to George Williams’ kick, dotting the ball down.

It took until three minutes from time for Ashton to complete his hat-trick, with centre King – who had earlier been sin-binned – sending the speedster over again to seal his treble.

72-6 the final score, it’s now four wins from four in Super League for Wire this season, who are again safely into the cup quarter-finals.

Ashton ended the afternoon with the Player of the Match medal around his neck, and is now quickly closing in on the milestone of 100 tries in the primrose and blue.

England have plenty of wing options for this autumn’s World Cup, and we still don’t know who the head coach of the national team will be.

But whoever is in charge must pick Ashton and he must take up one of the spots on the flanks. It’s that simple.