Dewsbury players set to represent England

Two Dewsbury schoolboys have been selected in the 26-man England Youth Under-16s squad, who will tour France in March.
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Scholarship players Joe Summers and Josh Pinder have been selected in the England Youth Under-16s squad.Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Scholarship players Joe Summers and Josh Pinder have been selected in the England Youth Under-16s squad.
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Scholarship players Joe Summers and Josh Pinder have been selected in the England Youth Under-16s squad.

Manor Croft students Joe Summers and Josh Pinder are part of the England squad who will train together each month between January and October and test themselves against France in Perpignan this March.

Summers and Pinder are part of the unbeaten Manor Croft team who are competing in the Champion Schools competition, while both are on the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Scholarship scheme.

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Summers has spent the last seven years playing for Dewsbury Celtic but is set to join Shaw Cross Sharks for the forthcoming season, where he will join England teammate and best friend Pinder.

The Dewsbury duo join Wyke ARL player Cameron Scott, who is on the Bradford Bulls Academy, in the squad and they met for medicals last Saturday before training starts later this month.

Newly-appointed England Youth coach, Gary Chambers, a former professional player with Warrington Wolves, has coached England Academy, Swinton Lions, Cumbria and Warrington Wolves Under-21s and is now looking forward to taking up his new role.

Chambers said: “Shane Eccles has done a fantastic job with the England Youth squad and I’m looking to come in and carry on where he left off.

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“The Under-16 talent pool in this country is extremely healthy and we want to get these lads together on a regular basis throughout the year to spend time with one another in an international training environment.

“All of this is designed to get players ready for what is to come on the international pathway as they make the step up to Academy, Knights and senior level.”

In addition to the youth squad, former Dewsbury Rams coach Andy Kelly has picked a 37-man squad for the England Under-18s Academy’s 2016 schedule which includes monthly training sessions, a home game against France in May followed by a month-long tour of Australia in July.

Dewsbury Moor player Declan Sheehan, who is on the books at Castleford Tigers, is included in the squad along with Wakefield Trinity Academy player Judah Mazive, formerly of Oulton Raiders.

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Kelly said: “A large squad was needed this year with the amount of sessions we have arranged and an important trip to Australia to take on some of the best Under-18s in the world.

“The last Academy tour to Australia was four years ago, so it’s an exciting time to be involved.

“In the months leading up to July this group will be working hard and proving themselves to the coaching staff that they should be the ones out there representing their country.”

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