Kevin Walters outlines second Ashes Test expectation and gives Isaah Yeo injury update

Kevin Walters expects Australia to be even better next week when they meet England in the second Test of the Ashes series in Liverpool.

The Kangaroos were a level above Shaun Wane’s England on Saturday, beating the hosts in every area of the field and running out 26-6 winners as a result. Reece Walsh and Angus Crichton were the tryscorers on the day for the tourists, scoring two each, with Daryl Clark grabbed a consolation for England late on.

It wasn’t the perfect performance from Australia, but it didn’t need to be to beat the English who underwhelmed in front of more than 60,000 supporters.

As the series rolls onto Liverpool and the Hill Dickinson Stadium, Walters expects England to improve. However, he also believes Australia will be better for another week spent on English soil and that’s a terrifying prospect for Wane’s side who need a result to keep the series alive.

“It was a bit scrappy and that’s to be expected,” Walters said. “Typical first game, with both teams coming together in a short period. We expect us to get better in game two and likewise the English side will get better as well.

“We’re happy. Our defence I thought was really good, the English side have got some really good attacking players and we defended really well which makes me happier more than anything.

“Working with these guys, they just give you confidence with our preparation. The expectation, we spoke about that, these guys handled that well and we’ll be on again next week with the expectation side of it. We’ll just enjoy this week and get onto next week next week.”

The Kangaroos lost skipper Isaah Yeo early in the contest to a head knock with the forward going on to fail a head injury assessment in the Wembley changing rooms.

As such, he’ll miss next week’s Ashes game in Merseyside and Walters has given an update on his situation.

“He’s okay in there, he’s with us but it was a bad knock that he got, category one,” Walters added. “We have good medical staff so they’ll look after him this week and we’ll see where he’s at in the next few days.

“We’ll wait and see what the medical staff say and also Isaah and how he feels. He’s OK in there now but he’s a tough hombre so he’s not going to say too much.”