There was a time when the champion team dominated the England side. In the early 1990s, when Great Britain were at their finest for a generation, the national team had a core from the all-conquering Wigan squad. Not anymore.

Watching defending champions St Helens somehow concede 34 points at home to Huddersfield on Friday night and yet still squeeze out a win, it occurred to me that not one of their side played for England at last autumn’s Four Nations. That is either remarkable or ridiculous. Jon Wilkin and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook’s England days seem to have gone, while James Roby was a rare absentee, but with Saints fielding six English youngsters it is surely only a matter of time until that changes.

The lack of England games in which coach Steve McNamara can try out exciting youngsters and the apparent abandonment of the England Knights programme – supposedly so vital to development and yet cast aside last year – means proven Super League stars such as Jonny Lomax and Tommy Makinson have not experienced an international camp. They are both already 24 years old. Last week the RFL revealed that they made a profit of £295,000 on a £19m turnover last year and have nearly £8m in the bank. But they didn’t put on a single home international last year. Go figure.

As soon as an English footballer gets more than a sniff of a first-team shirt at a top Premier League club, they are swept into Roy Hodgson’s England squad and given a game in a friendly or an undemanding qualifier against a minnow. The RFL’s severely limited senior international programme does not allow McNamara that opportunity.

Thus, Lomax, Makinson, Adam Swift (22), Joe Greenwood (22), Mark Percival (21), Andre Savelio (20) and Greg Richards (20) are playing well for one of the best teams in the country but are unlikely to win caps this autumn either. Having two internationals against France next year will be a start and RLIF chief David Collier’s plan to make the European Championships a qualifying event for both the World Cup and/or his proposed second major international competition will provide England with three or four games a season to test out their youngsters.

And all the while there are disturbing murmurings about Castleford’s Australian winger Justin Carney playing for England because he has lived here three years and has an English girlfriend. He would not be the first England call-up with no blood connection (Rangi Chase fits that category) but that would seem a dereliction of duty by the Sydney-based McNamara. The emerging talent is here – but the coach is 11,000 miles away.

Yes, I know they are a rugby union club, but stay with me. Rugby league is returning to the flagship Scottish Borders club. On 30 and 31 July, Gala are hosting a summer camp for secondary school kids run by Wigan Warriors Community Foundation. Among the coaches will be Scotland head coach Steve McCormack, who is also on the staff at Wigan. He will put on a coaching seminar on 30 July, too.

McCormack will return to Netherdale in October with his Scotland side to play Ireland in the European Championship. After a successful Scotland v France event there last year, Borders rugby fans will get another taste of professional league as Danny Brough’s men defend their European crown. Gala were decimated by the migration to league more than any other Scottish union club bar Hawick, losing at least 10 players. That exodus ended in 1962 with Brian Shillinglaw, who fell out with Whitehaven and whose career ended prematurely through injury after transferring to… Wigan!

Foreign quota

Corbyn Kilday would probably have played in Super League for Wakefield this season if the game hadn’t done away with reserve teams. Released last autumn, Kilday, now 20, impressed for Scotland in their European Championship triumph before heading to Queensland to train with former Trinity, Hemel and Oldham coach John Harbin. Wily veteran Harbin soon directed him to his son Lionel, head coach of Central Queensland Capras in Rockhampton. Kilday is now playing every week in the Intrust Super Cup, where his opponents have included former Wakefield and Huddersfield winger Luke George, playing with Sam Obst at Northern Pride. A stocky, explosive and reliable second-rower, Kilday could well be the next Ben Garcia, the Avignon product who is off to Penrith Panthers after a superb season with Catalans, or Saints’ thrill-a-minute Andre Savelio.

Goal-line drop-out

There has been something of a brouhaha on Humberside over the news that the two Hull clubs are going to share an academy from next year onwards. As is often the case, this was a delicate issue managed within concrete hands. Instead of the dreaded word “merger”, it should have been explained as simply the latest of the RFL’s Regional Academies.

RFL Player Development staff have long said that far too many young players are in Super League academies who are not good enough to be there. That was certainly the case in Hull, where a considerable slice of the 15- to 19-year-olds in the city were on the books of Rovers or the Airlie Birds. There will only be eight elite academies next year and Hull – as a city – need to be one of them. Hull FC were graded “outstanding” in this year’s audit while Rovers were “good”.

Most at risk of losing their status are Salford (Grade 4 – “weak”), given they are surrounded by four “outstanding” academies (Saints, Wigan, Widnes and Warrington), and Castleford (Grade 3 – “needs improvement”).

London Broncos, who have lost nearly every Under-19 game this season, may become a London regional hub instead, while Widnes have announced a partnership with Cumbria Regional Academy. Intriguingly, Wigan already recruits from Cumbria and now want to access London’s talent pool, something ruled out by the RFL when Leeds tried to set up an academy in the capital a couple of years ago.

Fifth and last

With two rounds of the regular season to go, all eyes are on the middle of the table. What used to be a dull place is now rather lively, given the bottom four are heading into the middle eight Qualifiers.

Wakefield look certain to be joined by Salford and Widnes, despite the Vikings’ narrow win over Catalans on Sunday that drags the Dragons into serious trouble. Hull beating Cas means that, if they better Catalans’ results over the last two games, they will secure a Super 8 spot, regardless of the result in the Humberside derby on Friday night.

Huddersfield and Cas losing and Warrington winning has also opened up the possibilities among the top four at the end of the 30-game campaign. Leeds and Saints should be sure of semi-final play-off berth but it is no longer unfeasible to imagine Warrington there, too.

Defeat for London at Dewsbury coupled with Sheffield beating Bradford means the Broncos are condemned to another season in the Championship while Sheffield can join Leigh and Bulls in preparing for the Qualifiers. Halifax, who held off a brave Batley effort, are favourites to join them.

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