England head coach Wayne Bennett says places for the Test series with New Zealand will be up for grabs in Wednesday’s one-off international against France.

With the nine Grand Finalists from Wigan and Warrington being held back for the Kiwis, Bennett will give debuts to no fewer than eight players at Leigh Sports Village.

The bulk of the six-strong Wigan contingent and the Warrington trio will all come into contention for the first Test at Hull on Saturday week, along with St Helens duo Jonny Lomax and Tom Makinson, who will miss the France game with minor injuries.

England: J Shaul (Hull); J McGillvary (Huddersfield), R Lyne (Wakefield), M Percival (St Helens), T Johnstone (Wakefield); J Connor (Hull), R Myler (Leeds); T Burgess (South Sydney), J Hodgson (Canberra), J Graham (St George Illawarra, capt), E Whitehead (Canberra), O Holmes (Castleford), G Burgess (South Sydney).

Subs: L Sutcliffe (Leeds), R Mulhern (Hull KR), L Thompson (St Helens), A Milner (Castleford).

France: T Gigot (Catalans); I Bergal (Leigh), B Ader (Toulouse), H Miloudi (Hull), P Marcon (Toulouse); T Fages (St Helens, capt), S Robin (Toulouse); M Goudemand (Catalans), W Barthau (Toulouse), T Margalet (Catalans), B Jullien (Catalans), P Seguiers (Toulouse), J Baitieri (Catalans).

Subs: J Sangare (Toulouse), L Belmas (Catalans), B Escamilla (Carcassonne), A Da Costa (Catalans).

Referee: C Kendall.