Sky Sports presenter Brian Carney believes in-form Wigan Warriors star Jackson Hastings should be picked on merit for England, insisting his birthplace is “irrelevant” in the selection criteria.
Carney made the comments during a discussion with Sky colleague Phil Clarke and studio guest Richard Agar as part of the live coverage of Thursday’s Super League clash between Wigan and Hull FC.
The widely-respected former Warriors winger, who represented Great Britain during a distinguished playing career in rugby league, said Hastings should not be overlooked simply because he was born in Australia.
Last year, England coach Shaun Wane told Betfred's The Last Tackle podcast: “I’m all for out-and-out Englishmen, I’m very patriotic and very proud.
"We’ve got some great talent in this country and imagine how proud we’d all be to win something major like the World Cup and have done it with all purely English-born players. That would be my dream.”
Yet Carney pointed to other players in Wane’s current England squad such as Leeds duo Mikolaj Oledzki and Kruise Leeming and Salford star Dan Sarginson, all of whom were born on foreign shores.
Hastings, who has an English grandparent, and Warrington’s Blake Austin were picked by former England boss Wayne Bennett for Great Britain’s tour of New Zealand and Papua New Guinea at the end of 2019.
Carney said on Sky Sports: “I’m a proud Irishman, but can we put some of this nationalistic fervour to bed - ‘English-born players take precedence in the squad’.
“We’ve got Mikolaj Oledzki, a Gdansk-born Polish boy who is included in the England squad.
“Kruise Leeming born in what was known as Swaziland, in the England squad and Dan Sarginson in the England squad, born in Australia.
“This nonsense about having to be born in England to represent England.
“Jackson Hastings is eligible for England. Whether or not he was born in this country is irrelevant if he is now eligible for England.”
The England rugby union team have picked numerous players who were born overseas but qualified to play for the Red Rose on residency grounds, such as Billy and Mako Vunipola and Manu Tuilagi.
Numerous ex-rugby league stars such as Henry Paul, Shontayne Hape and Lesley Vainikolo also earned caps for England in the 15-a-side code after swapping league for union.
