WITH the club season over, focus now turns to the international arena for several Warrington Wolves players.
And with a busy schedule of fixtures, there are plenty of Wire stars that will be in action for their nations on both sides of the world.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the players who will be involved, for whom, where and when in the coming weeks…
Rodrick Tai and Dan Russell – Papua New Guinea
The first international action for Wire players comes tomorrow, with centre Rodrick Tai and incoming second-rower Dan Russell in action for Papua New Guinea.
They kick off their Pacific Championship campaign against Fiji in Suva on Saturday (kick off 9.10am UK time) and Tai, who impressed during his first season with The Wire, named to start the game in the centres.
Giant forward Russell, whose signing on a two-year deal was confirmed earlier this month, has been named as 18th man for the Kumuls.
PNG are alongside Fiji and the Cook Islands in a three-team round-robin, with their second game coming against the Kukis in Port Moresby on Sunday, November 3 (kick off 5am UK time).
Whoever finishes top of the pool will face the bottom-placed side in the lead group, which contains Australia, New Zealand and Tonga, in a promotion-relegation play-off on Sunday, November 10, at Sydney’s CommBank Stadium (5am kick off UK time).
All of the Pacific Championship games will be broadcast live on Sky Sports, with tomorrow’s games on Sky Sports Mix.
George Williams, Matty Ashton, Ben Currie and Danny Walker – England
The vast majority of Warrington’s international representation comes in the England squad for the two-match Test series against Samoa.
The aforementioned quartet are the players who will be part of The Wire’s 2025 squad with the selection of John Bateman, who finished 2024 with Wolves but will return to NRL side Wests Tigers next year, taking the club’s representation to five.
As national team captain, Williams will likely be involved in both games while Ashton, Bateman, Currie and Walker will all be looking to impress head coach Shaun Wane enough to earn a spot.
The first Test takes place at Wigan’s Brick Community Stadium on Sunday, October 27, before the series concludes in Leeds with the second Test at Headingley on Saturday, November 2.
Both matches kick off at 2.30pm and are being shown live on the BBC – BBC Two for the first Test, BBC One for the second.
Joe Philbin – Ireland
Warrington-born prop Philbin is in line to represent Ireland, for whom he qualifies via his Irish-born paternal grandparents, for the first time in seven years later this month.
The 29-year-old has been named in the Wolfhounds’ extended squad for their international against Scotland. The party will be trimmed down next week but if Philbin gets the nod, he would be playing for Ireland for the first time since doing so during the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.
Since winning the last of his three Ireland caps, Philbin played twice on the Great Britain tour of New Zealand and Papua New Guinea in 2019 before winning his sole England cap in a post-season Test against France in 2021.
Joining Philbin in the extended squad is Warrington-born youngster Tom Ashurst and five former Wire players in George King, Keanan Brand, Greg Minikin, Pat Moran and Riley Dean.
Scotland vs Ireland takes place in Gateshead on Sunday, October 27, kick off 2pm.
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