Scotland skipper Danny Brough looking to down England
Last Updated: 04/11/16 3:58pm
Danny Brough will have a chance to punish England for ignoring his talents when he leads Scotland out in the first international between the two countries in Coventry on Saturday.
The Huddersfield half-back, widely acknowledged to possess the best kicking game in Super League, was often on the fringes of an England call-up under Steve McNamara and actually played in a no-cap match against the Exiles in 2012.
That proved to be his only appearance for the country of his birth as McNamara turned instead to the New Zealand-born Rangi Chase and the snub came as no surprise to Brough.
"I was in the squad a couple of times before that and never got to play," he said. "I always got cut from the last 24.
"I pretty much knew after I played that game that I wouldn't play for England again."
Any time I walk the boys out as captain, it's a proud moment but it will be really good this weekend.
Danny Brough
Brough immediately committed himself again to Scotland and within 12 months helped them reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup.
Now 33, Brough insists any hurt over his non-selection for England has long since disappeared as he once more throws himself into the Bravehearts' cause.
"No, [it doesn't hurt] at all," he said.
"Whatever is in the past is in the past, I don't worry about that. I try to concentrate on playing well for Scotland and being a good bloke to be around the lads. I enjoy my time in camp.
"Any time I walk the boys out as captain, it's a proud moment but it will be really good this weekend."
Scotland's target is to improve on their opening 54-12 defeat to Australia in Hull, where they never fully recovered from the shock of conceding 22 points in the first 14 minutes, but Brough sees no reason why they cannot pull off a shock win over England.
"You can't go into any game thinking you're going to lose or have any doubts," he said.
"They're pretty much the same as us, two legs, two arms, so we've got to have a bit of confidence about ourselves. We'll pick a lot of the good things that we did last week and try to put them into the game this Saturday.
"I don't think we did ourselves justice against Australia. We were like rabbits in the headlights at the start. I think we are a lot better team than we showed.
"One of our goals was to try to challenge all three teams to the end. We failed at the first but we've got two more cracks at it I just want us to show the world that we are a decent team.
"All the pressure is on them. No one expected us to win a game or compete in a game so we're hoping to prove people wrong.
"I'd like to see us score first and see how they react to that and see how we kick on from it."
Brough will win his 22nd cap at the Ricoh Arena and is set to equal Andrew Henderson's record for most Scotland appearances against New Zealand in Workington next Friday.
"[The record] is something I'm aware of," he said.
"Hopefully I can get through these next two games and break that record in the World Cup. It's something I want to do, it's something I'd be proud of."
Scotland 19-man squad: D Addy (Bradford), E Aitken (St George Illawarra), S Brooks (Widnes), D Brough (Huddersfield, capt), T Cassel (Wests Tigers), L Coote (North Queensland), L Douglas (Gold Coast), D Ferguson (Bradford), B Hellewell (London Broncos), L Hood (Leigh), B Kavanagh (Bradford), K Linnett (North Queensland), F Mariano (Castleford), B Phillips (Workington), C Phillips (Workington), M Russell (Warrington), D Scott (Batley), L Tierney (Wigan), A Walker (Hull KR).
England 19-man squad: J Bateman (Wigan), G Burgess (South Sydney), S Burgess (South Sydney, capt), T Burgess (South Sydney), D Clark (Warrington), M Cooper (St George Illawarra), L Farrell (Wigan), L Gale (Castleford), R Hall (Leeds), C Hill (Warrington), J Hodgson (Canberra), J Lomax (St Helens), J McGillvary (Huddersfield), M Percival (St Helens), D Sarginson (Wigan), S Taylor (Hull), K Watkins (Leeds), E Whitehead (Canberra), G Williams (Wigan).