The England rugby league team played their first match in 1904 against a mixture of Scottish and Welsh players known as the "Other Nationalities" side.

That was the start of many games against Australia, New Zealand, France, Wales and Ireland, with "Ashes" matches between England and Australia proving to be extremely popular at home and abroad.

However, the idea of a truly national England identity suffered during the 1960s, when it was decided that touring teams visiting Australia and New Zealand should be referred to as 'Great Britain' despite being completely English in make-up.

England therefore took a back-seat bar the occasional match against France or Ireland. That all changed in 1975, though, when they re-emerged to battle it out in the World Cup under just the St George's flag, finishing runners-up in that tournament as well as in 1995.

The idea has been further enhanced in the last couple of years after British rugby bosses decided to abandon the Great Britain Lions format entirely in 2007.

That has allowed the England jersey to flourish again, led by Leeds Rhinos captain Jamie Peacock, who is often seen in print and on television outlining how patriotic the current crop of England players are.