FANS are usually delighted when players from their team get called up to internationals.

But the way next week’s England clash against Samoa in Australia has been timed I get the impression that nobody is really doing cartwheels at sending their players 12,000 miles in the middle of the busiest part of the league and cup season.

So Saints will lose Alex Walmsley and Mark Percival for the big derby clash at Warrington a week on Friday.

Wayne Bennett gives Walmsley his first chance of pulling on the white jersey against Samoa on May 6 after being on the fringes of the international side for a couple of years.

Both will be sorely missed as Saints seek to string some wins together following last week’s disappointing loss at Widnes.

It is a bitter sweet call up at this point of the season.

If it is any consolation Wolves will be without their influential skipper Chris Hill and now Stef Ratchford.

With Saints and Warrington currently on the same nine points and positioned 8th and 9th, the clash is an unexpected top eight four-pointer.

And with that in mind both club’s will be assessing their losses.

As a game we have to be big enough to say internationals are a vitally important part of developing any sport’s profile.

Just look at rugby union, the Premiership carries on every week in the middle of the Six Nations and has prospered off the back of it.

England have such strength at the 15-man code that they can send 16 players off to tour with the British Lions and then still put a squad together to tour Argentina in the summer.

We need to build the international game, that is obvious.

The only way we can do that is by playing competitive fixtures and until we can get more meaningful games in the northern hemisphere we will be scrabbling around.

It should not be a club v country row all the time, particularly in World Cup year.

But there are alarm bells ringing all over this England v Samoa fixture – particularly the timing.

And even the attempts to mitigate the impact on each club, by putting a three-player limit, almost devalues the cap.

Sadly, it is not even as if it is going to generate a load of positive coverage here as the game is not on television, but being broadcast on an RFL paywall.

And from a Saints and Cas point of view those bells were probably ringing a little bit louder after the Challenge Cup draw.

The two sides between them have five players on England duty the week before the crunch sixth round tie.

Fingers crossed that all players come through that unscathed or that will be the cherry on top.

The timing on the whole event is not ideal. In fact short of it being before the big finals or semis, it could not get any worse.

We have just come off the back of the traditional gruelling Easter double header.

You could see the tired displays across the board last week – not just with Saints.

After this weekend most teams will then have to send players 12,000 miles across the other side of the world to play Samoa in Australia.

And then cross their fingers and hope they come back in one piece for a Challenge Cup round that could make or break the season.

Oh, and then after Magic there is another weekend double header to factor in.

All games that could be decisive in the top eight/four shake up before the split so it really could have done without this added complication at this point.

May is going to be punishing all round.