England skipper George Williams is convinced Shaun Wane is the right man to lead England into next year’s World Cup.
Wane has come under huge scrutiny and pressure this autumn for England’s subpar showing in the Ashes series, which they lost 3-0 on Saturday at Headingley.
The English were on the end of a one-sided 26-6 showing at Wembley a fortnight ago before losing 14-4 at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium and 30-8 at Headingley, meaning the aggregate score for the series ended 70-18, with the tourists winning all three Tests.
As such, it’s fair to say Wane’s position as head coach of the national team is far from secure and in the closing stages of the final Test in West Yorkshire, pockets of fans close to the press box could be heard chanting ‘you’re getting sacked in the morning’.
With a World Cup now just less than 12 months away, the RFL have a decision to make about who is best to take England down under next autumn, but Williams is convinced that Wane should keep hold of the reins, with the captain insisting that he has the support of the group.
England skipper on Shaun Wane and series defeat
“One hundred per cent, no doubt at all. We all believe in him,” Williams said after the game when asked whether Wane was the right man for the job.
“As disappointing as this series has been, what we’ve built has been really good under Shaun and he’s definitely the right man.”
On the series as a whole, Williams added: “As players we’re just looking at ourselves. As players we really believed we could do something special in this series.
“We built up and beat Tonga and Samoa but it’s disappointing it’s 3-0, it’s a bit embarrassing. There’s some lads in there that are hurting but it’s done now and we know how good they are.
“It’s good for us, a stepping stone into the World Cup, to know what we’re coming up against.”
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Anonymous
November 8, 2025 at 8:54 pm
Of course he supports him, no decent head coach would have selected Williams.
Eric T Cat
November 8, 2025 at 10:33 pm
Of course he backs him, heks the second name on the team sheet after Matty Ashton. It doesn’t matter what he hasn’t done on the pitch all season, he’s guaranteed a place in Shaun Wane’s team. He did nothing in this series to show me why he’s the England captain! Don’t say he scored a try! That isn’t enough, he did precious little to create any try scoring opportunities, did he break the line once, in three games? Are the stats posted anywhere? Metres made, tackles, line breaks, post contact metres, errors, etc? They’d make for interesting analysis!