Tim Sheens to coach Combined Nations All Stars

World Cup-winning coach Tim Sheens will take charge of the Combined Nations All Stars for the game against Shaun Wane’s England at Warrington on June 25.

The 70-year-old Australian can boast one of the longest and most successful coaching careers in the game, having won Premierships with Canberra and Wests Tigers and spent six years in charge of the Kangaroos from 2009-2015, which included their World Cup triumph in England in 2013.

Sheens moved to England in 2015, initially as director of rugby at Salford, and has coached Hull KR and Widnes.

His assistant will be former Scotland hooker Andrew Henderson, who is now on the backroom staff at Warrington after previous success as the head coach of London Broncos.

Sheens, who remained in England after quitting Widnes in October, said: “As soon as I heard about the plans for this fixture, I thought it was an interesting coaching prospect.

“The Exiles games that were played a decade or so ago showed the amount of overseas talent in the Super League, and by rebranding as Combined Nations All Stars, it’s expanded the players available from other countries who will be involved in the World Cup.

“We’ll have about 10 rounds of the Super League season for players to put themselves forward through their performances and, although we know one of the main aims of the fixture is to help Shaun Wane and his England team by providing an intense quality match as part of their World Cup preparations, I’m pretty confident that when we get the group together, we’ll also be determined to beat them.”

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