DAVID Cairns is in no doubt the experience of playing for England Colleges will have proved beneficial to the Barrow trio involved, despite suffering a heavy defeat to the Australian Schoolboys.

Furness Raiders graduates Jake Carter and Jake Stockdale, and current Furness player Tyler Lancaster were all involved in the match at Newcastle’s Kingston Park, which saw the Australians storm to a 92-0 victory.

But Cairns, who represented Great Britain at both under-24 and senior level, believes they will have learned much from coming up against a strong side with many players linked to NRL clubs which can benefit them in their careers.

“It is a great experience to represent your country at whatever level,” said the Furness head coach. “It’s a steep learning thing, but it’s part of the game, and where you need to be and where you want to be.

“Some of the players might look at that and think ‘it’s not for me, this’, but some might knuckle down.

“That’s when the good players come through and go to a higher level, because they’ve got that desire to try to push on and want to be as good as them.

“They might not get to that level, but if they don’t try then they’re never going to know.”

Cairns and Barrow Raiders head coach Paul Crarey both travelled to Newcastle to support their players, and could not help but be impressed by what they saw from the tourists in terms of the skill levels and the way they played.

Indeed, former Barrow half-back Cairns saw plenty of similarities between the Schoolboys and the full Australia side, right down to adopting the same lines of running utilised by the Kangtaroos.

Nevertheless, he was quick to praise the England Colleges players as well and does not see any reason why individuals would not stand out if they were lining up alongside the Australian players as well.

“The Australian Schoolboys were fantastic,” said Cairns. “They were probably a long way ahead of the college football and that’s the difference.

“The college lads are good lads, and the likes of Jake Carter are good players and Tyler as well, but the Australian Schoolboys play very similar to the Australia team. They play very similar patterns and it looks like your watching the full international side.

“A lot of them are linked to the NRL, so they’re already up and running. But if you put Jake Carter in that Australia side and see how he goes, he would go good, but that team is so go that you’re actually chasing shadows - it’s like minibuses going at them.”