RUGBY LEAGUE: TWO St Albans Centurions players have been called up to the Great Britain Community Lions Squad. Cents prop forward Andy Lake and centre Rudi Van Der Merwe have both been named in the 28-man training squad by Great Britain Community Lions

RUGBY LEAGUE: TWO St Albans Centurions players have been called up to the Great Britain Community Lions Squad.

Cents' prop forward Andy Lake and centre Rudi Van Der Merwe have both been named in the 28-man training squad by Great Britain Community Lions coach James Taylor ahead of the Lions clash against France Amateurs at the end of November.

Taylor, along with manager James Aspinall, will put his squad through their final paces on Sunday, November 15, at Hopwood Hall, Rochdale, before the team travel to the south of France.

The Lions will play France at St Cyprien, near Perpignan, and it will be their first outing since a narrow 22-18 defeat against the French at Wakefield in March.

St Albans player/coach Shane Rampling said: "This is a well deserved honour for Andy and Rudi, and also for our club. To qualify to represent the GB Lions you must have played at an amateur national representative level for England, Scotland or Wales, or nationally for the student RL, the Army, Navy or Air Force or represented the BARLA national squad.

"It is also an achievement that if you look at the make up of the squad, all the other players except one come from the highest levels of amateur rugby league - and except for our two boys, all are from the north of England.

"This proves that with the right mindset and training, players from the south of England can compete on equal terms with the boys from the north, rugby leagues traditional heartland.