Williams off the field but on the job as England captain

Captain George Williams vowed to ‘drive standards’ within the England camp for the upcoming series against Tonga after failing in a bid to have a two-match suspension overturned.

The inclusion of Williams in coach Shaun Wane’s 24-man squad surprised some observers given he had been banned from the opening Test at Totally Wicked Stadium this Sunday for a shoulder charge and from the second at John Smith’s Stadium six days later because an initial appeal had been deemed frivolous.

But as foreshadowed by another England half, Harry Smith, ex-Canberra man Williams appealed against the second finding on Tuesday night UK time. He was unsuccessful, meaning the half won’t be available until the Third Test at Headingley on November 4.

“I’ve still got a job at hand to be a leader,” Warrington’s Williams told NRL.com.

“Within the group there’s some young lads... get around them, make them feel involved, help them where needed and still drive training standards.

“(I’ll) speak in meetings, still be influential about the place and do what captains do.”

There were some surprise omissions through injury and the nature of the knocks were not all immediately apparent, the RFL saying in a media release that conversations between the team doctor Chris Brookes and the various clubs had been “confidential”.

Broncos centre Herbie Farnworth's hamstring injury, which troubled him in the lead-up to the NRL grand final against Penrith, is the reason for his absence.

Jake Wardle, the Wigan centre who won the Harry Sunderland Medals as grand final man of the match, was another on the sick list, as was St Helens halfback Jonny Lomax and his clubmate, prop Alex Walmsley. Of these, only a hamstring for Walmsley is currently public knowledge. 

In place of Wardle is Leeds' Harry Newman, whose temperament has been brought into question by many in the British game this year.

“I’ve had a few chats with him,” Wane said of 23-year-old Newman. “We all know what a talent he is and how competitive - sometimes over competitive.

“Hopefully we’ve sorted him out and we’ll see the best of Harry. I’m confident he’s going to turn the corner and Leeds will get a better player back.”

On Lomax and Walmsley, Wane said: “Without sounding nasty, I’ve forget about them now. They can’t play and the only players I’m worried about are the 24 players I’ve picked.”

From the side that beat France 64-0 mid-season, there are just three survivors in the starting backline including Williams and one - hooker Danny Walker - in the forwards.

Wane had said more NRL players such as Victor Radley who qualify on a heritage basis had contacted him about opportunities but none have been called up for this series.

Both Wane and opposite number Kristian Woolf pointed to small “effort areas” that needed improving from a tournament they bowed out of at the quarter-and semi-final states respectively, last year’s World Cup.

“If you look through our four games, we probably played to our potential in one of those,” Woolf said.

“The number one thing I want to see is I want this squad to play to their potential and I know if we do that, we’re going to be right in every game and giving ourselves a good chance of winning every game as well.

“We’ve come over here because we want to challenge ourselves. We want to get a little bit uncomfortable. We want to make up a little for the World Cup and the result... show that we can come to this part of the world and really show what we’re capable of.”