George Williams made up to be in England Elite Performance Squad

Wigan Warriors star George Williams says playing international rugby league is the ‘pinnacle’ after being named in England’s Elite Performance Squad.

Wayne Bennett’s 21-man Elite Performance Squad was announced last week and Williams is joined by Wigan team-mates John Bateman and Sean O’Loughlin.

And the 23-year-old is delighted to be called back up to England’s national side.

He told loverugbyleague.com: “It’s the pinnacle of the sport to play for your country and to be in that environment is only going to make me a better player.

“It’s good that the England Knights team is back as well. It’s good for people like Tom Davies, Oli Gildart, Budgie (Joe Burgess), (Ryan) Sutton and Sam Powell. They are only going to become better players from the international experience.”

Williams helped the Warriors beat Wakefield Trinity 30-18 on Sunday and was impressed by the second half display from Wigan.

He added: “Wakefield were an unbeaten team coming here full of confidence so it was nice to get the two points but I was more impressed with the second half performance.

“We posted some points and they are a good team so they took some breaking down. I’m happy with the win.

“Budgie has been in and out of the side but he scored three so I’m sure that will do him the world of good.

“We have lost but I think our start has been pretty good. We were nowhere near where we wanted to be at Warrington and we were still in with a shot of the game so there are positives but we aren’t getting ahead of ourselves. We’ve got a tough game next week at Castleford.”