England coach Shaun Wane is hoping to gain some inside information from Catalans Dragons trio Sam Tomkins, Mike McMeeken and Michael McIlorum in the build-up to Saturday’s World Cup clash with France in Bolton.
All but one of the 17 Frenchmen involved in Monday night’s opening 34-12 win over Greece in Doncaster are past or present Catalans players and therefore familiar to the Perpignan-based England trio.
‘We had a Samoan week last week, with Samoan food and chat, now it’s over to Mike, Sam and Micky, we’ll have a French week and go into the game really confident,’ said Wane, whose team crushed Samoa 60-6 in their opener.
McMeeken has spent two seasons with the Catalans and is expecting the French to put up plenty of resistance, saying: ‘England versus France is always a great game.
‘They’re a passionate bunch and they’ve got some strong individuals in their team. I’ve trained with them and played with them throughout the whole year so I know a lot of their strengths.’
Les Bleus are seeking a first victory in the fixture in 32 years but Wane was impressed by their win over Greece.
‘It was typical France,’ he said. ‘They did some really good things and some things I didn’t expect but that’s what you get with France, that unpredictability. I expect Saturday to be full on.’
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