Rugby League World Cup: England add four to squad for Fiji warm-up

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Sam Tomkins, England captainCaptain Sam Tomkins has trained with England this week but will not feature against Fiji on Friday
Hosts: England Dates: 15 October to 19 November
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Head coach Shaun Wane has called up four players from outside England's World Cup squad to face Fiji in their final warm-up game on Friday.

Wigan trio Liam Marshall, Sam Powell and Harry Smith are included in Wane's 22-man squad for the match in Salford, as is centre Jake Wardle.

Wane will need to name a new captain for the game, as Catalans full-back Sam Tomkins will not be involved.

England open the World Cup against Samoa in Newcastle on 15 October.

Eighteen of Wane's 24-man World Cup squad are in the squad for the Fiji fixture.

They include Jack Welsby and Joe Batchelor, who helped St Helens to a fourth successive Super League Grand Final victory on 24 September, but the other four men who represented either Saints or Leeds at Old Trafford will not feature.

Wigan's John Bateman is missing because of suspension, following his red card in the Warriors' Super League semi-final loss to Leeds.

Tomkins missed games with a knee problem in the closing weeks of the Super League campaign, but he told BBC Sport last week that he will be fit and "ready" for the start of the World Cup.

NRL trio Herbie Farnworth, Victor Radley and Dom Young are among the players poised to make their first appearances for the full national team at Salford's AJ Bell Stadium.

Friday's match against Fiji, semi-finalists in each of the previous three World Cups, will only be the fourth game that England have played since ex-Wigan coach Wane succeeded Wayne Bennett in February 2020.

England, World Cup runners-up in 2017, will also face France and Greece in the group phase after opening the tournament against Samoa at Newcastle United's St James' Park.

England squad to face Fiji: Ackers, Batchelor, Burgess, Cooper, Farnworth, Hall, Hill, Marshall, McIlorum, McMeeken, Pearce-Paul, Powell, Radley, Smith, Sneyd, Thompson, Wardle, Watkins, Welsby, Whitehead, Williams, Young.

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