SCOTT GETS SERIOUS
It’s no joke now for funny man Taylor
PRACTICAL joker Scott Taylor will be deadly serious when he makes his England World Cup debut tomorrow.
The prankster has wound up a few of his team-mates with his amusing video diaries Down Under.
The game for a laugh Hull prop knows his World Cup future could be on the line against France, though, and he won’t let anything mess that up.
Coach Wayne Bennett (below) wants to see what Taylor can offer after overlooking him for the games against Australia and Lebanon.
Taylor, 26, said: “I’m just absolutely buzzing. I want to put in a real good performance and then hopefully I am in Wayne’s mindset for the quarterfinals.
“It’s been a long three and a half weeks for me out here and it is tough.
“The hardest thing is when all my family and friends back home are messaging me asking, ‘Why aren’t you playing?’.
“Obviously they all think I should be playing but it is what it is.
“We’ve got such a talented squad and I can understand why he picks the team he does.”
Kev Brown, Mike McMeeken and Mark Percival will also make their bows in the final group game.
All four know that they will not be first choices when the knockout phase kicks off next week, with England expected to meet Papua New Guinea. But Taylor says he is determined to convince Bennett that he can’t be left out again. “If I keep training as hard as I can, then I won’t give him a reason not to pick me in the future hopefully,” he said. “My family are delighted I’m playing this weekend and are absolutely buzzing and they will all be watching back home. “They are all really proud and I am more happy for them than myself because I know just how much it means to them.”
Bennett is notoriously grumpy in public but Taylor says he’s in the thick of the squad wind-ups, adding: “He has as good banter as the rest of us.
“He’s a one-liner person but the best practical joker is Bubble the conditioner, Chris Baron. He is a character and a top bloke.
“Some lads don’t like the ice baths and just go in waist high but Bubble keeps bombing in behind us and soaking us all.”