Hull KR head coach Willie Peters has made a case for winger Tom Davies to be part of England’s World Cup squad, explaining that the ex-Wigan man would be in his squad if he were picking.
Of course, for a period of time it seemed as though Peters may be the man selecting the England squad for this year’s World Cup, with the Hull KR coach an early front-runner before he withdrew himself from the process after agreeing to coach the PNG Chiefs from 2028.
Instead, Brian McDermott landed the job and when naming his 38-man performance squad earlier in the year, something he made clear was not concrete, Tom Davies was not named as part of it.
McDermott named four outright wingers and two centres who have experience on the wing but Davies was overlooked, with the three Hull KR representatives being Mikey Lewis, Jez Litten and Dean Hadley.
Peters was asked about Tom Davies prior to the win over Catalans, given the strong form that the winger has shown across the season, but specifically of late.
Peters was forthright in his response, stating: “Tom’s been our most consistent player all year. You know what you’re going to get with Tom and I believe he should be pushing in that England squad.”
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Should Hull KR star Tom Davies earn a World Cup call-up?
Peters would go on to admit that he may have some bias in that opinion, though he supported his argument by highlighting Davies’ physical traits, in both defence and attack, as reasons why the 29-year-old should get a call-up.
“He’s certainly got a game that would stand up in World Cups and that I believe would stand up in those type of games,” Peters said.
“You need strong carriers in the backfield and you need to get on the front foot and then you’ve got the class off the back of that to be able to do the rest. He certainly brings that every week.
“He’s been safe for us, he’s defensively been sound. I’ve liked what he’s done and I’m looking forward to him having a big back end of the season and helping us get to where we want to get to.”
Davies has played just once for England, representing them in 2021 when he scored on debut against France and he’s since added 70 professional tries to his career tally.
Prior to round 23, he led Super League for carries, supporting Peters’ claims that he is a reliable runner out of backfield, with the winger also sitting second for metres, averaging almost 165 metres per game.
Of the three Super League wingers named in Brian McDermott’s 38-man squad (Matty Ashton, Zack Eckersley and Tom Johnstone), Davies leads the way on metres per game though he does rank lowest in terms of tries, with a still respectable 12.
Of course, NRL man Dom Young was also named in the 38-man squad and may well occupy the right-wing spot that Davies favours but the Robins man is certainly a contender among his rival Super League players.
His error count is the lowest of those aforementioned Super League wingers, despite playing the joint-most games, with Davies proving a reliable metre-eater and Peters is hopeful that the 29-year-old could earn himself a call-up, though he confirmed he’d had no contact with England over the matter.
“Hopefully, individually, he can push himself to being around that squad,” the Australian said.
“He’s been very consistent the last couple of years since he’s been in our club and as I said, he’s been our most consistent player all year, that’s for sure.”
