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England are slept on as a World Cup contender. They have a relatively soft draw – all going well, at least – plus the advantages of a home crowd and a host of players who know each other well.
They face Samoa in the tournament opener in Newcastle, where they will be roared on by 50,000 partisan fans, and will likely have had more warm-up action than their opponents.
If they win that, you can plot a pathway that takes them all the way to the semi-finals before they face another highly-ranked team, and crucially would avoid them having to play Australia or New Zealand until the Old Trafford decision. Lose, however, and things get very interesting very quickly.
The coach, Shaun Wane, is a canny, experienced operator in the Super League, with three titles to his name at Wigan. His style is very forward-first, defensively strong and intent on making life difficult for the opposition.
The team he has picked will help a lot in this regard: their forward pack has a lot of NRL experience.
Huddersfield’s veteran prop Chris Hill has earned an England recall for the Rugby League World Cup, a surprise inclusion in a squad that includes six players from the NRL.
The 34-year-old former Warrington front-rower was the shock name in coach Shaun Wane’s 24-man squad for the tournament, which kicks off when England take on Samoa at Newcastle on October 15.
Hill is the chief beneficiary of the absence of St Helens prop Alex Walmsley, while Salford scrum-half Marc Sneyd is chosen to plug the gap created by the loss of Jonny Lomax with a bicep injury.
Hill, who enjoyed a new lease of life following his move to Huddersfield, is one of six survivors from the team that reached the 2017 World Cup final in Brisbane.
The others are South Sydney’s Tom Burgess and Canberra’s Elliott Whitehead, along with Kallum Watkins, John Bateman and Ryan Hall, who will have the chance to add to his record tally of 35 England tries.
Sam Tomkins is key for Catalans Dragons. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)
As well as Burgess and Whitehead, the NRL players lining up for England are Herbie Farnworth (Brisbane), Victor Radley (Sydney Roosters), Dom Young (Newcastle) and Luke Thompson (Canterbury).
Farnworth was born in Lancashire and played amateur rugby league for Wigan St Patrick’s before moving to Australia, while Radley qualifies through his Sheffield-born father.
Young, 21, who made a handful of appearances for Huddersfield before joining Newcastle Knights two years ago, opted to play for England rather than Jamaica.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
England will play a World Cup warm-up match against Fiji at the AJ Bell Stadium in Salford next Friday before beginning their World Cup campaign eight days later.
England World Cup squad:
Sam Tomkins (Catalans, capt), Andy Ackers (Salford), Joe Batchelor, (St Helens), John Bateman (Wigan), Tom Burgess (South Sydney), Mike Cooper (Wigan), Herbie Farnworth (Brisbane), Ryan Hall (Hull KR), Chris Hill (Huddersfield), Morgan Knowles (St Helens), Matty Lees (St Helens), Tommy Makinson (St Helens), Michael McIlorum (Catalans), Mike McMeeken (Catalans), Mikolaj Oledzki (Leeds), Kai Pearce-Paul (Wigan), Victor Radley (Sydney Roosters), Marc Sneyd (Salford), Luke Thompson (Canterbury Bulldogs), Kallum Watkins (Salford), Jack Welsby (St Helens), Elliott Whitehead (Canberra), George Williams (Warrington), Dominic Young (Newcastle).