Tom Davies can count himself unfortunate not to have been named in the 38-man initial England squad last week
Tom Davies of Hull KR celebrates scoring
Hull KR boss Willie Peters has challenged winger Tom Davies to send a firm reminder of his abilities to Brian McDermott by stopping Maika Sivo this week.
Davies was one of the most unfortunate players to miss out on McDermott’s initial 38-man performance squad last week with the new England coach looking elsewhere for his wingers with Dom Young, Zach Eckersley, Tom Johnstone and Matty Ashton all being selected ahead of the Rovers man.
That’s despite Davies carrying his strong form from last season into this year with the winger, whose only England cap came in 2021, scoring 11 tries in 20 games for the Robins this season.
As such, Peters has challenged him and the other KR players who have an England spot in their crosshairs, such as James Batchelor and Oliver Gildart, to go and prove a point at Headingley against Leeds Rhinos, which is a game McDermott will surely be watching from his Gold Coast base down under.
For Davies that means stopping Sivo, which he failed to do in Las Vegas earlier in the year, but he now has a second opportunity.
“I’m glad I don’t have to stop him, Tom Davies has got that job this week and it’s a one on one on that wing,” Peters said. “He was always a crowd favourite back in the NRL and nothing changed.
“He went through adversity last year but it’s credit to how he’s come back and responded and you can see that over the years he’s had a great relationship with Brad. He plays well under Brad and he’s doing what I thought he would do over here.
“Tom Davies is in form and he’s someone that could have been in the England squad. He adds a lot of value to us, he’s tough, he puts his hand up every week, he has tough carries, he hasn’t missed a game and I’m really happy with what we get out of Tom.
“Brian has seen what he’s seen. He’ll have his opinion and if he’s not sure about certain players at KR, this is the opportunity. This is the opportunity to show against one of the sides of the competition in form, they’re the games that he’s watching closely and that will determine how these players go against Tonga and France and PNG.
“He’s watching and the players that want to be in that team have an opportunity.”