I agree we should take advantage of the rules but I am not in favour of overseas players pulling on the England shirt personally.

The World Cup is the main reason players jump between countries because of the sheer lack of number to fill all the nations with quality players.

Fringe England players would rather use this rule to get and Irish or Scottish jersey for example then miss out on a rare World Cup appearance.

End of the day it is down to the RL to make the rules stricter if they so want to.

Its the other countries who are selecting Australians not the other way around though.

If the rules changed to you have to play where you were born the Australian side would be exactly the same except for Civoniceva who would be playing for Fiji. If this rule came into force the international game would be dead as PNG, Tonga, Samoa and Fiji would be full of amateurs.

Perhaps the current side, but there have been others in the past. The point is, if a player is eligible and they think he's the best option, they'll pick him - regardless of anything else.

rules are there for a reason like em or not !!

Exactly, they dont care about the nationality of a player, they will pick anyone if it improves them as a team.

There's a mention of bjb so can we presume tansey won't be there?

How do you know that they are not? that is to say, where can I see the full train-on squad?

Manu

- if he was a bit younger and bigger, I could see it. Still, good luck to him in an England RL shirt, if it happens. Got no problem with playing the rules as they stand - we're not good enough to further disadvantage ourselves.

The rules are ridiculous, but we should play them to our advantage, I agree.

Having said that I'd expect some of the "Ellis, Burgess, Westwood, Harrison, Tomkins" lot to be selected before Willie. Not Langley though. Oh no.

I also think that I'd prefer Willie to have a decent rest in the off season.

Right or wrong its within the rules. Whatever we think of them we should congratulate Willie on this recognition of a great season.

Totally agree well done Manu

well done to tom briscoe and espcially kirk yeamen aswell who are also in the squad, surley tickle and houghton woundt of been far away

Disagree, I don't think they would pick anybody who hadn't come through the Australian junior system.

How long till Ellis and Burgess get an aussie call up?????

Absolute pi$$ take. If there is no pride in playing for the country your from whats the point in bothering with internationals?

It makes it all meaningless.

It's like england cricket, how can anyone take pride in anything they achieve when there best players are south african

Has the full squad been released yet ?

Well I think they would, so we'll have to disagree! It's not just Aussie RL - there are loads of sports/countries at it these days. I haven't checked the NZ squad, but I'd imagine they have a fair few South Sea Islanders in there (or have had in the past). Like I said, it's within the rules. Everyone is playing to the same rules, so until those rules change I don't see a problem with playing Manu.

Indeed i would find it very difficult to get behind the national side when they contain foreigners. I've nothing against Willie who is a smashing bloke, but he isn't English and should therefore not play for England. Besides has he not already represented Tonga??

Also it would have been interesting to read the comments on here had it been Clint Newton that had been picked

That would never happen. He's crap.

Spot on

He's not good enough. Most people dont agree with the rules but dont see the point in cutting your nose off to spite your face. Manu can add a lot to the England team IMO.

My biggest surprise is Manu agreeing to play for England TBH.

It is nothing new. The Italian team that won the 1934 football world cup contained 3 Argentinians - Monti, Guaita and Orsi. All had played for Argentina previously and two later reverted to the land of their birth.

Later László Kubala and Alfredo Di Stefano both earned the distinction of playing for 3 different countries after WWII.

He put his name forward to play for England either last year or the year before.

TS politely declined

Got mixed feelings about this but I hope it goes well for Willie.

It's fun reading the Wigan board as they have all got defensive over the situation thinking that their 'superior' Joel Tomkins has competition for the spot

We're all forgetting the important question, is this the end of the Tongan Mafia?

Whilst I'm happy that Willie has got the recognition for his good form, I'm really not keen on the idea of players switching international allegiances. It happens in many sports though, notably the England cricket team and of course Vainikolo, Hape and Henry Paul have all played for England at RU.

Has Manu got a British passport or is he here on a work visa?