England debutant talks “disappointing” defeat but remains confident ahead of third Rugby League Ashes Test

AJ Brimson made his England debut on Saturday, and whilst the result didn’t turn out to be one he wanted, it will no doubt be a day he will never forget. 

The Gold Coast Titans playmaker replaced Jack Welsby at full-back for the second Test in the Ashes series, after the St Helens man was dropped for a poor performance at Wembley.

Brimson, who can also play in the halves, made 123 metres, the second highest of any England player, and showed some promising signs to start his 13-a-side international career, having already represented Australia in the nines format.

Speaking after the game, Brimson gave his thoughts on where his side went wrong, despite being arguably the better of the two sides, particularly in the first-half.

He said: “We completed high and made it hard for them. They were coming up with errors, but it was probably our pressure that was making forced errors and I know we were better this game, but it was just disappointing.

“It was do or die today and we didn’t get the choccies.”

The 27-year-old believes that England will remain positive going into the final Test, as they look to avoid a series whitewash.

“We should take confidence, I think we let this one slip. I thought we were in at half time confident we could get the job done, but we just couldn’t get it done.

“We’ll be confident going into game three, but again, just disappointed that we couldn’t get it done today.

A total of 52,106 fans attended the game, and created a much more hostile atmosphere for Australia. Brimson praised the support, admitting it was nothing like he’d ever seen before as a player.

He said: “It’s the loudest I’ve ever played in front of. It was insane, the fans were amazing.”

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✅ #EnglandRL debut!

🏉 AJ Brimson reflects on yesterday’s Second Test pic.twitter.com/DAM9pxUqsR

— England Rugby League (@England_RL) November 2, 2025