Willie Peters believes Joe Burgess is playing his way into England contention. The Hull KR winger was outstanding again as the Robins beat Huddersfield Giants, scoring two tries and creating another in another impressive display.
Burgess has been impressive for Rovers since joining from Salford last year. He has scored 27 tries in 34 games but beyond that he has come up with important plays defensively, while also doing good work in the backfield.
Dom Young and Matty Ashton were the first-choice wingers when England player Samoa last year, but Young has been out of form and dropped to reserve grade this year, while Ashton is set to miss the rest of the season due to a knee injury.
That has presented an opportunity for someone else and Peters believes Burgess is playing his way into consideration.
“I think he’s settled off the field,” Peters said. “You might have to ask him. He’s in a good spot. He’s a character; he brings a lot of energy and as I said, he is a character to our team and what I’m enjoying seeing with Budgie is when it is time to switch on and we’re at training, he’s doing that and then when it’s time to have a laugh, he’s leading that and that’s what you want.
“You want players like that in your team. Tom Davies is like that, he’s brought a tonne of energy to our group. I think Budge is getting the balance right now and he wants to win things as well. He’s not getting any younger and I think he’s taking advantage of what we’ve got at the moment and what we’re chasing.”
On his England prospects, Peters added: “I think he certainly needs to be in the conversation because; obviously I’m from Australia, but if you’re looking, if Sean Wane’s looking at a team, he’s going to be going, well, who’s going to worry the opposition, who is going to worry Australian players and their coaching staff and if you give Budge an inch, he is gone.
“But look, he has a lot of good outside backs in the country, both here and representing England in the NRL. So there’s some competition there, but there’s no doubt he should be in the conversation.”
Another impressive performer against Huddersfield was Kelepi Tanginoa. The back-rower has produces numerous strong displays during his time at Rovers, and Peters has challenged him to be as impactful on a more regular basis.
“We strive for consistency as a team,” Peters said. “That’s what Kelepi is capable of. He’s an older player now, he’s experienced, but I still don’t believe Kelepi realises what he’s got, the tools that he has.
“Opposition players, you hear them all the time, they don’t enjoy playing against Kelepi. But sometimes it can be, he can get his own head, which we can as humans, but we certainly know what he brings and what he can do, and he showed that tonight.”