Cunningham believes England should have picked Percival

St Helens coach Keiron Cunningham believes that Mark Percival should have been selected for the England squad for last year’s series against New Zealand.

The Saints coach believes that if the centre stays fit in 2016, then an England call-up cannot be far away.

“I thought ‘Percy’ might have got a call-up for the end of season Test series last year,” Cunningham told the St Helens Star.

“I could believe they didn’t give Percy a crack, or at least put him in the squad.

“Like all great players he sometimes doesn’t realise how good he is.

“Often is play is instinctive – and at times he probably doesn’t know what he has done – but he certainly possesses a good awareness of space.

“He has trained the house down in pre-season and is now bigger, stronger and quicker and I definitely think this is going to be a big year for him.”