“England bashed us” admits Australia star as Man of the Match showing seals rugby league Ashes

Melbourne Storm playmaker Cam Munster picked up the Man of the Match medal but he’ll also be lifting the rugby league Ashes trophy after Australia sealed the series at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Having won the first Test at Wembley comfortably, England really took it to Australia but it wasn’t enough with Munster’s try in the second half being quickly followed up by a Hudson Young score as the Kangaroos won 14-4.

Despite the defeat, it was a much-improved performance from England and that was evident from Cam Munster’s Man of the Match speech with the Australian number six clearly aware his side had been in a game, unlike last week when England were miles off it.

Speaking post-match to the BBC, he said: “It’s been a great game, everyone played their best and we gave it to them on a silver platter in the first half, but our scramble and our defence was really good tonight.

“We’ll obviously have attacks that are a bit scratchy but we’ll work on that next week.”

Australia set out goal to whitewash England in rugby league Ashes

Munster was asked specifically about the intensity of the first half, admitting: “When you don’t complete and you defend a fair bit, there’s a lot of fatigue. England came out tonight and bashed us.

“They played tougher and obviously a bit smarter with the ball, but obviously we turned up for each other with our scramble and we did that in the first game as well.”

As for next week at Headingley when they can seal a 3-0 series whitewash, he called for improvement, stating: “It’s a great team effort but we definitely can play a lot better and we need to do that next week.

“That’s the goal, but if you look too far ahead and forget about the week and the preparations, you don’t play the footy you want. We’ve probably got a little bit of complacence tonight but I think a little bit of skill from ourselves got us out of trouble.”

Captain Harry Grant was another of the Australians to speak, discussing the early sin bins with him and opposite number Jez Litten at the heart of it with a brawl ensuing after their scuffle.

He said: “We played a Test match here and probably the emotions saw it get a bit fiery earlier. That probably got the best of both teams, but I thought it was a scrappy first half, but in the second half we sort of built some of our game. It was a real Test match, we really enjoyed it here in the stadium.”

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