Rogers wings his way home to unexpected England call

Darren Rogers will set out to make up for lost time when he gets his chance on the wing for England tonight.

Darren Rogers will set out to make up for lost time when he gets his chance on the wing for England tonight.

A late addition to the squad after the withdrawal of the injured Nathan McAvoy, the Castleford winger has been named in the line-up for the game against Russia at St Helens. Rogers returned from a holiday in Mexico to find a message from the England manager, David Howes, asking him to join the squad.

"Obviously I was really disappointed that I didn't get picked," he said. "I didn't think I would be in the starting 17, but I thought I had a good chance of getting in the squad. Everybody has been telling me that I should have been picked and I felt I should have been in front of certain people, not naming any names. I thought two or three Cas players could have been picked. "But I forgot about it and, because I didn't get a letter saying I still had a chance, I booked a holiday and went away."

Rogers is just one of the changes to the side that lost 22-2 to Australia in England's opening match. Paul Deacon, Jamie Peacock, Andy Hay and - despite being on police bail over an alleged nightclub incident - Francis Stephenson make their first appearances of the tournament.

Rogers' arrival allows Chev Walker, who had an impressive effort on the wing against Australia, to move to the centre role in which his future might lie, whilst the England captain, Andy Farrell, switches to the stand-off position in which he played most of the season for Wigan. Paul Sculthorpe is back in training but will not be considered until Saturday's meeting with Fiji.

The Australians have also made the maximum number of changes for the other Group One match against Fiji. Trent Barrett, Craig Gower, Michael Vella, Ben Kennedy and Nathan Hindmarsh all come in, with Andrew Johns reverting to scrum-half and Brad Fittler captaining from loose forward.

In Dublin, Ireland will reach the quarter-finals if they can see off the challenge of Scotland. The Irish coaches, Steve O'Neill and Andy Kelly, have made two changes to the side that beat Samoa. The Belfast-born Australian Ian Herron comes in for Mark Forster on the wing and Huddersfield's John Lawless replaces another Australian, Danny Williams, at hooker.

Away from the World Cup, Leeds have been found guilty by an employment tribunal of "unconscious" racial discrimination. The tribunal ruled that Paul Sterling was discriminated against by coach Dean Lance between 9 February and 2 March when he told the player he would be not selected for the first team "irrespective of performance".

The tribunal decided that the discrimination was unconscious and that Lance's comment to the player was "ill considered". However, they described the Australian coach as "a professional and honourable man" and "cautioned the club against taking a disproportionate view of his culpability". Lance, who joined 12 months ago, is expected to see out the two years on his contract. Sterling's future remains unclear.