Wigan Warriors star Kai Pearce-Paul opens up on being left out of England’s first two games by Shaun Wane

After being the 18th man in the opening game against Samoa and missing out last week despite the fact Shaun Wane suggested all those who missed the Samoa game would feature against France, Wigan Warriors youngster Kai Pearce-Paul is set for his test debut against Greece tomorrow.

For Pearce-Paul he’s among those in the Wigan squad who missed the Shaun Wane era at the club so it was a new experience working under him as a head coach though he has been involved in proceedings at Wigan in 2022.

He had nothing but praise for Wane especially for the way he handled not picking him against Samoa and France.

“Shaun is the most honest guy you could meet,” Pearce-Paul said, “For those first two matches he told me exactly how it was and I can’t respect that any more.

“He’s told me that I’m going to get my shot this week and all I can do is do my best, show him what I can do.”

It’s set to be a special day for his family who have to balance his success with his brother’s in rugby union.

On this, he said: “It’s a weird one, we’re all together really. I’m sure that I’ll have people come and watch me and I’ll be very proud.”

That will likely give him extra motivation going into the game but he is determined to show that he belongs at this level: “I don’t want to the levels to drop.”