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WHARFEDALE Coach Peter Hartley, above will chair the England Counties Selection Panel as they prepare for the Counties' three match tour to America and Canada in June.

They have now reached the selection stage with a newly appointed team under the direction of Team Manager Danny Hodgson already engaged in the scouting brief.

The Counties will face USA A' twice in New York (June 6/9) and a Canada Select XV at Chatham, Ontario on June 13.

This will be the team's first visit to the United States, thereby adding another international dimension to an itinerary that has already embraced Chile, Argentina, Canada, Russia and Europe.

The tour to North America will also provide further evidence of the development support the RFU provides to the USA/Canada Alliance, which includes the highly-successful Churchill Cup Counties were last in Canada in June 2004, when they won both their games against Vancouver Island Crimson Tide and Rugby Canada Super League All Stars.

Wharfedale stalwart and long-time England Counties selector Hartley will chair the selection panel which includes Terry Pryor (South West) and David Hodgson (North), former Team Manager Jim Robinson (Midlands) and a newcomer to the Counties XV set-up, Michael Old, son of former British Lions fly-half Alan, who is monitoring the London contingent and has son far been casting an eye over clubs in Division Three South.

"We've all be watching games and looking out for prospective players in recent weeks," said Hodgson. "I'm pleased to have an experienced band of selectors in place and I'm also pleased at the response I've had so far from clubs.

"I've spoken to someone from every club in National Division One, National Two and both Three North and South, and sent them all an e-mail asking for their nominations.

The selection process proper starts on May 4 when the selectors will meet to prune the initial batch of nominations and that culling process will continue during the County Championship.

2:51pm Thursday 3rd April 2008

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