KEVIN Brown’s selection or not for England in Saturday’s Rugby League World Cup semi final against Tonga in Auckland is set to be determined over the next 48 hours.

The Warrington Wolves playmaker, whose recall has given Wayne Bennett’s national team better balanced shape in the past two matches, is due back in full training on Friday if he passes the required head tests.

Brown suffered concussion in the quarter-final success against Papua New Guinea in Melbourne on Sunday, not featuring in the second half.

Concerns have been raised, including by Wolves officials, that Brown continued on the field for the last 15 minutes of the first period after being poleaxed by a tackle from Kumuls sub Stargroth Amean as his shoulder collided with the 33-year-old’s face.

"I’ve spoken to the RFL and voiced my concerns as to why Kevin wasn’t removed from the field of play," said Wolves' chief executive Karl Fitzpatrick.

"They came back and explained why and I understand it got missed in live play and there was no replay function available, so he remained on.

"Kevin is a tough guy and he would have said he wanted to stay on, but when they replayed it at half time, they took him off.

"They’ve assured us they will follow protocol on whether he will play against Tonga, so we’re comfortable with that after speaking with the RFL and the England medical team."

After England's first field session since arriving in New Zealand, earlier today, Bennett said: “Kev’s got to do a series of tests.

“He’s not allowed to train with the team in the early part of the week but he’s doing other stuff so he’s on track, it’s all good.

“If he’s going to be declared to play, he’ll be able to train fully on Friday. I’m extremely confident. We’ll bring another player in if we have to but I’m not planning on that.”

In Brown’s absence, St George Illawarra’s Gareth Widdop is likely to switch back to stand-off from full-back with Saints’ Jonny Lomax slotting into the number one shirt upon return from injury.

Wolves’ Chris Hill (prop) and Ben Currie (bench) are named with Brown in the England 17.



 

Bennett explained earlier this week how it came about that Brown's 'category one' concussion was missed by his staff during the game.

“The doctor who went on the field didn’t see the incident because there was no replay board,” Bennett said. “It wasn’t working.

“Kevin assured him he was fine. He had no major symptoms that suggested he’d been knocked out.

“Nearing half-time, one of our players who was not playing was on social media and up came a replay of the incident. He brought it in and showed the doctor and the doctor realised that it was a category one.

“Kevin was quite coherent in the changing room at half-time and the last thing he wanted to do was come off but when you saw the replay you could see he was knocked out, it looked bad enough.”

Bennett said he was unaware of Brown’s previous record of head knocks in Super League.

“I don’t know his history. I just know he was totally coherent in the changing room and totally adamant that he was going back on.

“His head was clear, he knew where he was and what was going on. But, once the doctor said it was category one and he didn’t want him to go back on the field, I told Kevin he wasn’t going back.”