Daly Cherry-Evans inspires England academy

Manly Sea Eagles star Daly Cherry-Evans has urged the 23-man England Academy squad to grasp every opportunity presented to them during their current four week, four-game tour of Australia.

The Academy take on New South Wales Juniors at Manly’s Narrabeen training base tomorrow and Cherry-Evans, who knows what it takes to be a successful tourist having been part of Australia‘s victorious 2011 Gillette Four Nations squad, has offered words of encouragement to England‘s youngsters. 

“The guys in the squad are all very young so it’s really important that they make the most of the fantastic opportunity they’ve got here and make the most of the experience,” said Cherry-Evans.

“Many of the guys might never get a chance to play in Australia again at any level and they need to make sure that they grasp the opportunity with both hands and give it the best shot they can because this could be the highlight of their careers.

“I think what helped me most as a young player in that squad was the fact that the bunch of guys I was with were really upbeat and obviously also we were very fortunate to have been winning games which always helps in that kind of situation.” 

While he featured in Australia‘s Four Nations squad, Cherry-Evans has also experienced the agony of losing on tour when he was part of the Manly team that fell to defeat against Leeds Rhinos in this year’s World Club Challenge game at Headingley Carnegie Stadium.

“Having a good coaching staff behind you is very important when dealing with all the issues you come across on tour,” said the half-back. “From recovering from jetlag in the first weeks to the training demands between games and managing different types of players is no doubt a challenge, but if the coaches can keep everybody fresh I’m sure the guys can go well out here.”