Did he play for Ireland in the WC last year?

The reason i ask ishttp://www.wiganwarriors.com/news_full.asp?newsid How O'Carroll has been picked over him when hes missed half the season and Prescotts been fantastic this year IMO

Well done to the 3 though

wants to play for england i would imagine

Prescott was injured all last season from March so he wouldn't have been considered.

He is eligable, but he was injured at the end of last year IIRC so he didn't figure in the World Cup!

I thought that but can you see him getting picked over Graham, Morley, Peacock, Burgess, LMS, Lynch, Carvell etc? He's been good this year but those are in a different class.

Prescott has apparently pledged his allegiance to England. Don't really think it matters as the RLIF are about as much use as a chocolate teapot when it comes to eligibilty.

3 years down the line though in the World Cup year who knows, better to put your hand up now rather than nail your colours to the mast only to miss out on an England call because of eligibility issues.

Worst comes to the worst and he is no selected or not near selection, he can still put his hand up for Ireland I would imagine in time for the World Cup.

Well with Peacock and Morley getting old they've got to find replacements somewhere.

I've always liked Prescott. Does a quiet but effective job for me and at 23 he is still at a young age for a prop forward.

Considering he missed 12 months from March 2008 to March 2009, he's had a good season to have missed just 1 game in 27

Tony Smith is championing a 'tier' system for international reps which I agree with and as he's currently England coach hopefully he'll be in a position to influence any decision makers. Basically the likes of Scotland, Fiji, Ireland etc being a tier below the Tri-Nations teams, will have players available to them without ruling themselves out of England/Australia etc duty if they're called up to the higher level squad. This means that players Like Jarryd Hayne or in this case Prescott (not in any way mentioning them as like for like quality here...) can turn out for the smaller nations whilst not having to nail their colours to that mast permanently.

Given the small pool of international talent we have it's the sensible way to go.

It does make sense, as much as i dont like it.

Agreed, its less than ideal in theory but there are many benefits to this system in reality and it has to be the way to go, it will also benefit the players as well, i have no doubt the World Cup experience with Ireland for O'Caroll and McIllorum has improved them as players, especially the latter.

How dare you, Pat Richards is clealry Irish!

It would be easier to just bring back GB then wouldn’t it? No confusion over split loyalties or people representing one country one year and a different one the year after.

Have GB tour play AUS and then NZ alternate years and let the other home nations play against the likes of France, Samoa & PNG etc at the same time.

Not only is that more international games but GB can be brought back as well.

Don't know how it would work for Aus or NZ tho?

To develop the international game we need to be split! Every now and again be GB on a tour but keep it as england!

We should of been doing this for years!

Prescott's a solid player. He would need to improve a fair bit to get into the squad while Morley and Peacock are still around, but he will be in his prime when they are out of the way so I can see why he would prefer to play for England.