{"id":810418,"date":"2026-10-22T14:02:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T14:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/810418\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T14:02:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T14:02:12","slug":"england-boss-defends-mikey-lewis-rugby-league-world-cup-snub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/810418\/","title":{"rendered":"England boss defends Mikey Lewis Rugby League World Cup snub"},"content":{"rendered":"

England<\/a> boss Brian McDermott admits Mikey Lewis may give his side \u2018something they haven\u2019t got\u2019, but has defended his decision to stick with George Williams and Harry Smith in the halves this weekend.<\/p>\n

Following a 30-12 defeat to Tonga in last weekend\u2019s opening game of their 2026 Rugby League World Cup campaign, England take on France on Saturday in a must-win clash.<\/p>\n

Chances of progressing into the semi-finals are slim, with England looking likely to need big wins against both France and Papua New Guinea to stand any chance of featuring in the knockouts.<\/p>\n

Many had expected changes to McDermott\u2019s side for the clash against Les Bleus in Perth, but the only alteration comes on the wing \u2013 with Matty Ashton brought in for Zach Eckersley.<\/p>\n

Accordingly, it will be the same half-back partnership which goes again: much to the surprise of some.<\/p>\n

England coach addresses Mikey Lewis omission amid \u2018unfair\u2019 criticism of halves<\/p>\n

Hull KR playmaker Lewis\u2019 inclusion in McDermott\u2019s World Cup squad raised eyebrows following a challenging year at club level, but having struggled to score points against Tonga, his inclusion remained an option as a point of difference.<\/p>\n

Having left the Robins ace out of his extended 19-man matchday squad for the second week running, head coach McDermott explained: \u201cMikey Lewis is a tremendous player and you\u2019ve got to wonder whether he\u2019d give us something that we haven\u2019t got.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor sure, it (a change in the half-back partnership) has been considered, but I thought George (Williams) was good against Tonga.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think George has been unfairly assessed and I thought Harry Smith was really good. We were co-ordinated both in yardage attack and good ball attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got held up over the line four times in the game and there was a try-saver from Tonga holding up Herbie Farnworth.\u201d<\/p>\n

2024 Man of Steel Lewis has eight England caps on his CV, but just three of those games at international level to date have seen him start.<\/p>\n

Having started the opening Test of last autumn\u2019s Ashes Series against Australia at Wembley under previous England boss Shaun Wane, he then featured only off the bench in the second and third clashes against the Kangaroos.<\/p>\n

With Lewis now facing the possibility of experiencing a World Cup without playing at all, McDermott detailed: \u201cHe is good, it was a frustrating end to the season for him, but he won a World Club Challenge at the start of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been great round the camp, he knows his role. He\u2019s shown a lot of humility in the camp, as have a few other players.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been really good to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England boss Brian McDermott admits Mikey Lewis may give his side \u2018something they haven\u2019t got\u2019, but has defended…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":810419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-810418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=810418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/810419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}