• France 8-40 England
• Tom Johnstone helps inspire hosts to victory

England’s one and only mid-season international ended with a new-look side defeating France, but the occasion underlined the major problems international rugby league possesses.

Tucked away on a streaming platform, with no televised coverage and set as a curtain-raiser to a Championship game between Toulouse and Featherstone in the French city, this Test had felt like somewhat of an afterthought for the sport’s organisers in the run-up to it. Those feelings were merely emphasised here.

Road to international status has not been easy but Hull KR star hopes England debut on Saturday is ‘not the pinnacle’

It is only a few years since Elliot Minchella would discuss the fortunes of the England rugby league side with the people he worked with on a building site in West Yorkshire. This weekend, however, those former colleagues will watch him fulfil a childhood dream after taking an unconventional route to the Test arena.

While so many of the men who will line up alongside Minchella in Toulouse on Saturday evening have had a straightforward journey to England honours, the 28-year-old’s story wasn’t quite the same. He made a try-scoring debut for Leeds Rhinos as a 17-year-old but an off-field incident saw his initial progress stutter, before eventually being let go by the Super League club.