Australian Super League star Bevan French has confirmed he would not consider playing for England if it was requested.
French, a former outside back in the NRL, has taken the Super League by storm in recent years in the halves, winning the competition's player of the year Man of Steel award in 2023.
He has also been named to the competition's team of the year in 2020, 2022 and 2023, and has helped the Wigan Warriors win back-to-back Super League titles, where he took out the player of the grand final in 2024.
Speaking on Sky Sports recently in England though, French said he was Australian born and bred, pointed to the competition for the spots ahead of him, and said he simply couldn't bring himself to put on the jersey of the old enemy with England to clash with Australia in this year's Ashes series - the first for over two decades.
"I can't do that. I was Australian born and bred," French said.
"I don't even know. You still have to look at the actual England players who are in contention to play in the halves.
"You know, you've got Harry [Smith], Mikey [Lewis], George Williams, I don't know if Ethan Strange is in that running too, AJ Brimson is in the backline as well.
"There are plenty there in front of me to choose from anyway, but looking at it, I don't think I could ever pull that jersey on."
The former Parramatta Eels' outside back scored 35 triesin 47 games between 2016 and 2018 with the blue and gold, before moving to Wigan in 2019 where he has been ever since, playing 126 tgames and scoring another 107 tries.
The nephew of Nathan Blacklock, French is now 29 and showing no signs of slowing down, with his form driving Wigan towards another finals series in the Super League.
