England coach Brian McDermott adds new names to one‑cap club
New England head coach Brian McDermott has included ten uncapped players in his 38-man training squad for the World Cup. This selection reshapes the national setup and highlights the history and membership of the England one-cap club.
Brian McDermott’s first move as England’s head coach has already reshaped the nation’s most exclusive statistical club – the one‑cap club. By naming a 38‑man training squad to prepare for the World Cup in October and inserting ten uncapped players, the new head coach has inadvertently handed a few unwelcome invites to the England one-cap club.
McDermott has picked 10 uncapped players, five of whom are middle forwards: Dean Hadley (Hull KR), Sam Walters (Wigan), Caleb Hamlin-Uele (Wakefield), Ben Talty (Brisbane) and Max King (Canterbury).
Media additions
Trout started in Leigh’s 24-6 win against Warrington on Saturday and, at 26, he will still hope to go to the World Cup before joining the Dolphins in the NRL this year. In the unlikely event he does not add to the cap he won in the Ashes last year, Trout will join an even more niche group: England players whose single cap came against Australia. The last player to join that group was Shaun Lunt, who was given his debut in Melbourne in 2010, but was never considered good enough to play for England again.
Why the one‑cap club matters now
The one‑cap club has plenty of quirky stories. McDermott should feel empathy with the players he has left out. He has one England cap, having played in a friendly against Wales in 2001. He did, however, play four times for Great Britain so his membership of the one-cap club comes with an asterisk.
“I hadn’t realised you got an actual cap,” said former Hull KR forward Chris Charles, reflecting on his 2005 appearance. “I left the cap and shirt in a drawer for a very long time, but eventually got them framed. Now it’s the only shirt I’ve got up, at the top of the landing. I look at it sometimes when I walk past, but I don’t talk about it. No one mentions it, but they can’t take it away from me.”
Chris Charles, former Hull KR forward, via The Guardian
Minchella’s only appearance for England came in a friendly in Toulouse in June 2024, a game Shaun Wane, the coach at the time, missed due to illness. Before the World Cup pool was announced, Minchella said: “I understand where I am in the pecking order. It’s the position that’s pretty stacked and I’m probably not near the top. I’d love to play for England in a World Cup, but I’m also not stupid enough to think I’ll be in there.”
The broader England picture
While McDermott’s list expands the one‑cap pathway, the incumbent England side, selected by Shaun Wane for the upcoming Ashes series, already features three players who have faced Australia before – John Bateman, Alex Walmsley and Kallum Watkins – according to Rugby‑League.com. The Bbc report adds that Hull KR’s Mikey Lewis, Jez Litten and Joe Burgess have secured places in the 24‑man Ashes squad, while Man of the Steel winner Jake Connor was omitted – a decision Wane described as “not really difficult”.
