The Castleford captain, Luke Gale, is hopeful that a good Easter showing can catapult him into the thinking of the new England coach, Wayne Bennett, for this year’s Four Nations.
After impressing in 2015, Gale was unlucky not to get a chance for England in the Test series against New Zealand. He was selected for the squad by Steve McNamara, but failed to play a game. After Bennett’s appointment last month Gale is confident that performances such as the one he produced against Leeds on Thursday can help him secure an England start.
“It’s mad how one game can change things, as I was getting abuse for my performances last week, and now people are mentioning the word England to me again all of a sudden,” he says.
“There’s a lot of good half-backs in this country and the competition is fierce. However, there’s a new coach in charge now, and hopefully I’m turning his head and making him see what I can do.
“It’s a clean slate for everyone you’d hope with him. It was disappointing to just miss out last year after being in the squad, but if I can keep turning in good performances, I might catch his eye eventually. It’s still a dream to get that England cap. That hasn’t changed and it never will.”
In the 18-14 win over Leeds, Gale laid the platform for Castleford to end their three-game losing run in Super League, and the busy Easter period continues for them with a daunting game at Catalans on Monday afternoon. The journey to Perpignan means the Tigers will have had almost no break between their two fixtures. At least they will have a longer rest than most for their next game, which is at home against Huddersfield, surprisingly bottom of the table with one win from seven, on Sunday.
“It’s going to be tough with all the travelling,” he says. “Easter is always tough to deal with, but when you’ve got a trip to France to throw into the mix, it makes things even harder. There’ll be no time spent relaxing. It’s just a case of trying to back up the good work we’ve done against Leeds.
“We identified this as a big period. Our form hasn’t been great lately, but the chance to get three quick wins is the opportunity you get presented with at Easter and if you put some form together you can rocket back up the table in no time.”
As stand-in captain of the club after the season-ending injury to Michael Shenton, Gale paid tribute to his side for responding to their poor run. “There was a fair bit of soul-searching from the boys, so I’m delighted, as captain, to get the result against Leeds,” he says.
“I’m proud of the way we responded because training hasn’t been an easy place to be lately. We’ve been asking a lot of questions of ourselves, mentally more than physically, but we’ve been brutally honest with each other and we never gave in.”
