“Annoying” England left to rue poor attack as legends discuss second Ashes Test game plan

England face a tough task this Saturday, as they look to draw level in the Rugby League Ashes. Wembley saw Australia take home the spoils, in what was a disappointing afternoon for Shaun Wane’s side.

The home nation only managed to score one try all afternoon, as Daryl Clark’s consolation score in the 77th minute kept England from being completely shutout by an Kangaroos side who are only going to get better.

It was a scrappy game from both sides, and whilst England kept themselves in the game for the first half, the opening five minutes of the second was the turning point, and Australia dominated from that point on.

Wane’s men will have to improve significantly if they are to come back and equal the series, and some England legends have had their say on what they need to do to try and achieve that.

Jamie Peacock, Sam Burgess and Jon Wilkin were all part of the BBC’s punditry team on Saturday, and following the disappointing defeat gave their verdict on the action.

The trio agreed that both converting chances and being more clinical when the few opportunities came was where their country failed, and it’s what Australia did well at.

Peacock, who played 47 times for both England and Great Britain, said: “We came here with hope that England were going to win, and we saw them create opportunities in the first half, and then Australia took it up a couple of gears in the second half and showed how it takes to be clinical.

“I think England know they need to improve, I think the annoying thing for England is, the simple parts of the game they didn’t do well, and they didn’t do them consistently well enough.

“We’ve got to bring and do the basics well at a very high level, we’ve got to complete 90-95%, cut out all basic areas and make it into a contest, I think, and then they’ll play on.”

Burgess added: “You listen to a couple of things they’re talking about, how they were scratchy and they didn’t complete well and that they’re disappointed with the last try. Well look out next week, England have got to improve a lot to be better next week.”

Wilkin commented that the game plan was off-track for England, with the spine having no consistency meaning plays were not executed properly. He went further to add that the physicality of the game was by no means international standard, and certainly not for a game against Australia

He said: “The game was gone in the first half, when England just couldn’t get to grips with how they were going to play a good ball.

“Turning over possession and giving the ball to Australia, that was where the game was lost for me because that energy that you lose in having to defend, compared to having to make them defend full sets, put them in corners, exactly what they did to us.

“We just failed to do it to them for long enough to put them in a bad place physically. You’ve got to put teams in the hurt locker, you’ve got to make them suffer, and we didn’t make Australia suffer anywhere near enough today for a Test match.”

“The difference was Reece” – England legends praise Kangaroos debutant after two-try performance

Reece Walsh’s Player of the Match performance stole the show on Saturday, as he near-enough single-handedly gave Australia the first Test win of the series.

The trio agreed unanimously that he was no doubt the deciding factor of the two teams, and agreed on what England have to do in order to limit his impact at Everton on Saturday.

Burgess stated that he was the turning point, with his first half performance in particular key to the Kangaroos’ victory.

He said: “In the first 50 minutes, he was the difference. There wasn’t a huge difference between the two sides, but the difference was Reece. He created something out of nothing, he made a bit of a line break, he threw a pass into touch but the second one he iced.

“He was the difference in the first 50 minutes, there’s no doubt about that, and then the last 30 minutes, it’s just muscle memory for the rest of the team.”

Wilkin added: “The Reece Walsh contributions, those two 2-on-1 picks, they picked them off, they’re massive, and it’s like the Wigan Hull KR Grand Final. Wigan missed two opportunities, Hull KR go on and win. We missed a couple of opportunities, just by a great defensive play from Australia, from Reece Walsh in particular.

Burgess, giving a suggestion to how to stop the Brisbane Broncos star, said: “I’d love to see next week, the first time Reece Walsh comes out the back, and that three-on-two down a short set, I’d love to see some aggressiveness.

“It’ll make him think about the next time he goes there so I wonder if we can see a little bit of that, see if he’ll adapt on the run, through the week, because, as we’ve seen, if you give him space and time, you might get to the first one, but not the second and the third.”

Walsh has been named to start at full-back, with Kevin Walters making just once change to the 17 that took to the field last week.

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