Miles lands national call (From Swindon Advertiser)

Miles lands national call

10:40am Thursday 4th June 2009 in

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A TEENAGE rugby league player who has only been involved in the sport for a year has been picked for the England under 18s Lionhearts squad.

Miles Bennett, 17, who plays for Swindon St George Dragonslayers, trialled for the national side at the home of Hemel Stags on Sunday.

He has now been selected as part of the 20-man squad to take part in the Four Nations tournament this summer, in which the Lionhearts will take on Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

His teammates Mike Thompson, Gary Bramble and Liam Davis also attended the trials, with Thompson selected for the South of England squad, despite only having played the game for several weeks.

Bennett, who attends New College, played rugby league for the first time last year and could scarcely believe he had been catapulted onto the international stage.

Before that he had been captain of the Supermarine Colts rugby union side, having taken up the sport aged 14.

“I was really surprised to have gone through, it hasn’t really sunk in,” he said.

“I took league up as a summer keep-fit sort of thing and ended up actually preferring it. I swapped my on-season for my off-season.”

Bennett plays on the wing for the Dragonslayers team that has made an excellent start to their league season, but was trialled at centre for the national side.

He admitted going full-time in the sport would be the perfect scenario, but was not getting carried away with the possibility.

“Ideally I’d love to (turn professional) but you don’t want to get your hopes up, that’s why I was quite happy to be picked yesterday (Sunday),” he said.

The youngster added that he wished to thank the coaches at Dragonslayers for their help and support, in the wake of his international selection.

Another Swindon player, Ashley Brown, has been selected for the South of England Open Age side following his impressive performances this season.