Joe backs Sam for England as Jungle looms

JOE BURGESS has backed Wigan team-mate Sam Tomkins to overcome his England snub and return to the international stage.

Tomkins was a notable omission from Wayne Bennett’s elite performance squad earlier this month despite his eye-catching early season form.

The Warriors full-back was again overlooked when Kevin Brown announced his international retirement last week, with his place not currently being filled.

But Burgess believes it is only a matter of time before Tomkins finds himself back in an England shirt again.

Burgess said: “They’ve more or less kept the same squad as the World Cup, and give him his time, he’ll be straight back in it.

“He’s finding his old form again – when he scored the long-range try against Widnes recently I was joking with him telling him it was vintage Tomkins again.

“He didn’t have a full pre-season last year and that does show.

“But he’s getting back to himself and he’s a lot more experienced now as well – he has more leadership about him.”

Burgess himself has earned recognition for his performances with a call-up to the England Knights squad – even though he has three senior caps himself from 2015.

He admits the selection was a shock in more ways than one.

Burgess said: “I didn’t know anything about it until it was announced because I missed the call off (coach) Paul Anderson.

“I was absolutely buzzing off it, really happy with it.

“I’ve been in the England set-up before but it was at a really young age, I was 19 at the time.

“That was after my best year, and Paul has told me this is a stepping stone to get back into the full England squad.”

Before either Burgess or Tomkins can think about England selection there is today’s mouth-watering Super League clash at Castleford.

Warriors coach Shaun Wane has labelled his side’s recent visits to the Mend-a-Hose Jungle as “abysmal” - and Wigan are keen to make amends.

Burgess added: “They’re obviously not doing as well as they did this time last year but they’re still a dangerous side.

“They’ve still got the same shapes they had and will throw a lot at us.

“We’ll watch them plenty on video and be ready for what they can throw at us.”