KALL TO NATURE
England and Leeds Rhinos rugby league ace Watkins demands more of the ball in the Four Nations race to final
KALLUM Watkins could be forgiven for feeling like he has forgotten to pack something because of his Four Nations frustration – his dad’s lollipop!
That way, he could direct his team-mates to give him the ball.
While centre Watkins takes on the world’s best on a rugby pitch, dad Gary tackles a more trickier opponent – schoolkids.
He has recently moved to stopping traffic and directing pupils to a primary school in Sale, Greater Manchester.
And the uniform and lollipop proved too much to resist for the Leeds ace.
“I’ve definitely tried it on,” revealed Watkins. “Dad’s been doing it for a while now.
“But I think he’s just moved area, hence why it’s maybe regarded as a new thing. It’s great that he does it, even though it is a bit mad.”
Watkins is likely to keep his place in England’s side for Sunday’s must-win clash with Australia at The London Stadium.
However, he is not overly happy with the way the tournament has gone so far.
Before the unconvincing win over Scotland, the 25-year-old called for more ball to give him and right winger Jermaine McGillvary more chances.
He is still waiting.
Asked whether he was happy with the amount of possession he received at Coventry, Watkins simply replied: “No.”
“In the first half, we were giving the ball away, so the way we wanted to get back into it was down the middle,” he added.
“We tried to get opportunities out wide but it’s hard and you have to look for the ball yourself.
“I tried to do it a couple of times but just couldn’t get hold of the ball enough. It’s frustrating but the team performance is more important.”
Despite not receiving the ball much against Scotland, Watkins knows there can be no repeat of England’s errors when they take on the Kangaroos.
He said: “It’s about ball control and discipline with it, that’s really important to how they apply pressure.
“That’s what the top teams are so good at. We needed to do that against Scotland but at times we didn’t, especially in that first half.”
