Warrington v Wakefield Trinity: Anthony England eager to go up against his old club

BIG PROP Anthony England is aiming to continue an impressive run of form when Wakefield Trinity visit his former club Warrington Wolves tonight.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

England has been part of the engine room driving Trinity to four wins from their opening five Betfred Super League fixtures and is happy with the way both he and the team have begun the season.

“I’ve played some good minutes,” England said. “I’m injury free at the minute and that’s a bit thing.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The former Featherstone Rovers man admitted: “I struggled a bit last year with my foot, but I am happy and I think I am back on form. We are five/six games in and I can only get better, but I am quite happy with my performance.”

Anthony England.Anthony England.
Anthony England.

Trinity have a formidable pack so the pressure is on their forwards to play well every week.

“We have got some really good forwards – and some really good young forwards as well,” England said. “Someone I have been really impressed with is Jordan Baldwinson, just his patience to get into the team.

“I think he is one to look out for and we’ve got big Dave [Fifita] who plays well every week, Pauli Pauli has come in and is a giant of a human. It is really good competition and some really good blokes as well.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

England made 33 Super League appearances for Warrington in 2014 and 2015 and is relishing tonight’s battle. He said: “It’s a big game.

Jordan Baldwinson.Jordan Baldwinson.
Jordan Baldwinson.

“I think we were unlucky there last year and that’s something we’ll be looking to put right. I think that’s something Chezzy [coach Chris Chester] will mention.

“They are a really good team and they’ve got a lot of overseas players who’ve come here with a good reputation and some good home-grown talent as well. It is a tough place to go, but we will keep the same attitude and keep playing the way we’ve been playing and, hopefully, we’ll come away with two points.”

Tonight’s game gives Trinity chance to put a frustrating two weeks behind them. Wakefield’s four-game winning start to the season was halted at Wigan Warriors and then, last Saturday, the home clash with Widnes was abandoned after 27 minutes because of snow.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We were a little bit disappointed after the Wigan game,” England said. “We thought that was a game we could have won. Obviously Wigan away is a tough place to go, but we thought we were playing well enough.

David Fifita.David Fifita.
David Fifita.

“I think maybe [last Saturday] they could have given it 10 minutes, rather than calling it off straight away, until it died down a little bit, then we could have gone back out. But that’s not my decision. The decision was made and we’ll fit the fixture in when we can.”

Tinirau Arona has dropped out from the team which started against Widnes. Ben Jones-Bishop, Fifita and James Batchelor are all in contention for a recall.

Warrington’s side will be selected from the 17 who won at Catalans Dragons last week, plus former Trinity centre Ryan Atkins and new signing Josh Charnley.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Warrington Wolves: from Ratchford, Lineham, Goodwin, Atkins, K Brown, Roberts, Hill, Clark, Cooper, Hughes, Murdoch-Masila, Akauloa, Philbin, T King, G King, Livett, M Brown, Westwood, Charnley.

Anthony England.Anthony England.
Anthony England.

Wakefield Trinity: from Grix, Johnstone, Tupou, Lyne, Jones-Bishop, Miller, Finn, Fifita, England, Ashurst, Kirmond, Randell, Horo, Pauli, Huby, Batchelor, Hirst, Caton-Brown, Hampshire.

Referee: James Child (Batley).

Kick-off: Tonight, 7.45pm.