THREE players from a West Cumbrian rugby club played for England community teams at the weekend.

Mason Lewthwaite played for the England Community Lions under 23 squad while brothers James and Will Ennis played for the under 20 team.

The squads were in Dublin for a match against Ireland, which both English teams won.

All three of them play with the open age teams Kells ARLFC.

Mason is a second row while James is a half back and Will plays hooker or loose forward.

After the matches, community lions players are presented with a jersey.

Peter Smith, chairman of Kells ARLFC, said he was proud of the players.

He said: "We’ve had a load of jerseys in the club, lads have come through and played for Great Britain at under 19 level, like when I played, but there’s a lot more teams now and open age level.

"It makes you quite proud when you see the jerseys in the club, so hopefully we can keep churning them out.

"It’s a big achievement to get in there. Good on them."

All three young men have played with Kells for years and live locally.

Mr Smith said that their success demonstrates the strength of the youth sides at Kells.

He said: "It’s looking alright. We’ve had a good youth system for a number of years now, so we just get them into our open age teams."

For Mason, Will and James, Mr Smith said that the sky is the limit.

"They’ve definitely got the ability [to play semi-pro rugby league].

"They wouldn’t be playing for England under 20s or under 23s otherwise.

"They have to be some of the top players in England to claim that jersey, so good on them there.

"It’s down to them [whether they play semi-pro teams].

"It’s a big ask to do semi-pro stuff.

"There’s a lot of time that you’ve got to put in, travelling and doing the training.

"It’s down to the lads themselves, what they want to do, but I’d be happy either way, whether they make a name for themselves in the semi-pro game or they stay with their amateur club and be mainstays of that club there."