Cumbria have named six Super League players in their squad preparing for a game with Nigeria in November.
The Nigerians will be playing for the first time outside Africa when they take on Cumbria at Barrow on November 2.
The Cumbria squad contains players from across the top three tiers of the rugby league pyramid with several new to the county side.
One who isn’t is Brad Singleton, a 32-year-old Barrovian now with Castleford Tigers and a seasoned prop with over 300 career appearances on his CV. He was in the last Cumbria side to take the field at Whitehaven in 2023 against a Wales X111.
There are three newcomers – the Warrington Wolves trio of James Duffy, Zack Gardner and Tom McKinney who have all made early strides in their Super League careers this season.
Between them they have made eight appearances for Wire’s first team squad.
Most noticeable has been centre Gardner, the son of Barrow-born former St Helens star Ade, and he has scored two tries in his four top-flight appearances so far.
Wakefield’s Noah High, who spent time on loan at home town club Whitehaven last season, was snapped up by Trinity back in February as they recruited him from Warrington, and only Salford cancelling the Super League clash last month denied him a first-team bow.
He has played on loan with Championship side Batley Bulldogs.
Completing the Super League sextet is 22-year-old Harvie Hill who has just been announced as a Hull FC capture from Wigan.
Whitehaven-born Hill made his senior bow for the Warriors in 2022 and is close to 50 senior appearances. He was part of the squad which did the quadruple last year, featuring in their World Club Challenge triumph against Penrith Panthers.
Dominated by players from the local Championship and League One sides, the 30-man squad, listed in alphabetical order by surname, is:
- Max Anderson-Moore (Whitehaven)
- Ellis Archer (Workington Town)
- Ethan Bickerdike (Whitehaven)
- Josh Blinkhorn (Whitehaven)
- Luke Broadbent (Barrow Raiders)
- Andrew Bulman (Barrow Raiders)
- Jordan Burns (Whitehaven)
- Jake Carter (Workington Town)
- Luke Cresswell (Barrow Raiders)
- Jamie Doran (Workington Town)
- James Duffy (Warrington Wolves)
- Zack Gardner (Warrington Wolves)
- Ellis Gillam (Toulouse Olympique)
- Noah High (Wakefield Trinity)
- Harvie Hill (Wigan Warriors)
- Ellison Holgate (Whitehaven)
- Connor Holliday (Whitehaven)
- Jordan Johnstone (Widnes Vikings)
- Tom McKinney (Warrington Wolves)
- Finn McMillan (Barrow Raiders)
- Jake Pearce (Whitehaven)
- Stevie Scholey (Workington Town)
- Brad Singleton (Castleford Tigers)
- Jack Stephenson (Workington Town)
- Curtis Teare (Barrow Raiders)
- Jordan Thompson (Whitehaven)
- Shane Toal (Barrow Raiders)
- Tom Walker (Barrow Raiders)
- Brad Walker (Barrow Raiders)
- Cole Walker-Taylor (Workington Town)
