George Burgess pleased to be back in the England side

George Burgess was made up to play his first game for England in two years as they swept France aside.

The South Sydney Rabbitohs front-rower helped England thrash France 44-6 at the Leigh Sports Village on Wednesday night in a warm up game for their three-match Test series against New Zealand this autumn.

Burgess was left out of last year’s World Cup squad by Wayne Bennett, but he made his first appearance in an England shirt since the 2016 Four Nations on Wednesday.

“It is great being back over here and playing for England,” he told loverugbyleague.com.

“Playing for your country is something you dream of as a kid, so it is good to be doing it again and I like being back in the set up.

“The game served its purpose. We managed to get our attack going and a few combinations going which was great and some players blew some cobwebs off as well. We defended quite a bit in the second half, so it was good practice for us.

“It was good to get some solid minutes so I’m looking forward to getting back into training ahead of the games against the Kiwis.”

England’s series against New Zealand gets underway on Saturday, October 27, at KCOM Stadium in Hull.

Burgess admitted that England need to go into a higher gear if they are to beat the Kiwis though.

“We just need to complete high and defend well and we did that against France but we just need to do that against higher quality opposition now,” the 26-year-old added.

“Mags (Michael Maguire) has got his teeth stuck into them and he is doing a good job with them, so they will be a very good team.

“They will be well coached and well prepared. They will be very much a better team than they were last year, so we will have to be good.”