Sunday 16 October 2016 09:49, UK
Castleford scrum-half Luke Gale is poised to make his England debut against France in Avignon on Saturday.
The 28-year-old former London Broncos and Bradford half-back was one of five members of Steve McNamara's 24-man squad not to get a game in the 2015 Test series against New Zealand or the one-off match with the French that preceded it.
However, he has been retained by McNamara's successor Wayne Bennett for the Four Nations Series and looks certain to win his first cap in Avignon after Bennett announced his intention to give run-outs to players who have been inactive for a month or more.
They include Gale, whose last match for his club was in the last round of the Super League Super 8s on September 25.
"In terms of Avignon, I need to get players playing that haven't played for five or six weeks," Bennett said. "I don't want to throw them into the game against New Zealand cold.
"My priority is to get those guys a game and I can give the guys who have played more recently a week off. There's no need to force people to play."
It is six weeks since Sam Burgess was last in action but his return will have to be put on hold due to a one-match ban he picked up for a tripping offence in South Sydney's last match of the season on September 2.
Burgess' twin brothers Tom and George are set to get their first run-outs since then, while NRL-based colleagues Mike Cooper, Gareth Widdop and James Graham are also set to face the French after arriving in England this week and going into camp with the Super League players on Saturday.
Widnes captain Kevin Brown, Huddersfield winger Jermaine McGillvary and Leeds trio Ryan Hall, Kallum Watkins and Brett Ferres are other players in need of game time, while Bennett must decide whether to pick Canberra duo Josh Hodgson and Elliott Whitehead, whose side reached the NRL semi-finals, and which men to pick from beaten Super League semi-finalists Hull and St Helens.
Because of Burgess' suspension, Bennett will have to call on at least a couple of the seven-strong contingent from Grand Finalists Wigan and Warrington to compile a 19-strong squad for the France game.
The England squad travelled from Leeds to London on Saturday to set up camp ahead of the French game. They will train this week at the Honourable Artillery Company ground in the city before flying out from Stansted on a chartered plane on the day of the game.
They will return after the match at Parc des Sports to Leeds/Bradford Airport and base themselves in Leeds in the build-up to their opening Four Nations clash with New Zealand at Huddersfield on October 29.
