Harrison out of Britain squad

The Great Britain coach, Andy Goodway, has lost one of his most experienced internationals on the day he named his first batch of players to prepare for the three Tests against Australia in November.

Goodway selected seven players from teams eliminated from the Premiership, but Karl Harrison, the Halifax prop, withdrew almost immediately, because he needs an operation on a hernia.

Harrison, a reliable front-rower who has played 14 times for his country, deprives Goodway of some depth at prop, but the inclusion of Paul Rowley, his Halifax team-mate, shows how well off Great Britain are at hooker.

Rowley, a 22-year-old who has already played for England, would have to get past Keiron Cunningham and James Lowes to win the chance to play against Australia, but his form in a struggling side this year has been good enough to deserve recognition.

The same has been true of the recent performances of another Halifax forward, Carl Gillespie, who is included in the squad without having won any previous representative honours.

Oldham provide two players, the Welsh international full-back Paul Atcheson and the club's scrum-half and captain, Martin Crompton.

Crompton has missed the latter stages of the domestic season with an ankle ligament injury, but will be fit to resume full training soon.

Two Warrington players are also being told to stay in training for the Test series - Paul Sculthorpe, who despite not yet being out of his teens is already a seasoned international, and Jon Roper, the Cumbrian centre or winger whose tour to New Zealand last year was spoilt when he suffered a knee injury.

Realistically, only Sculthorpe out of this first tranche of candidates is likely to line up against Australia at Wembley on 1 November. But the others have been given the encouragement to press on with the good work and they must be regarded as contenders for the Great Britain "B" team that Goodway wants to introduce as an extra layer of competition.

Meanwhile, Warrington have put their players on notice that there is likely to be an extensive pruning of the squad before next season.

Their coach, Darryl Van de Velde, is interviewing the whole playing staff before deciding how the club will adjust to the salary cap that comes into force next year.