England belief questioned as pundit talks “inferiority complex” following Ashes defeat

A former England international has argued that Shaun Wane’s side lack belief on the evidence of their Ashes loss against Australia.

Kevin Brown, who was part of the England side that lost to Australia in the 2017 World Cup Final, has claimed that England currently have an inferiority complex and don’t actually believe that they can score against or beat Australia.

All four of England’s points in their 14-4 second Test defeat at the Hill Dickinson Stadium came from penalties whilst the sole try in the first Test was a late consolation after Australia took control in the second half.

Australia again took control in the second 40 as they scored two quickfire tries, leaving England chasing the game and seemingly out of ideas, something that Brown noted when speaking post-match on the BBC.

“We were brilliant in that first half. In the second half, it was almost like we’d run out of gas,” he suggested.

“I do believe in that inferiority complex where, do we really believe we can open them up and do we really believe we can score?

“Because I’ve seen these players play in Super League, and George (Williams) who is with us now, he goes direct, and he takes them on. I don’t know whether it’s the speed of the ruck or what but we looked so lateral when we were chasing points today.”

Do England believe they can beat Australia?

Sam Burgess agreed that it came down to belief, something he claimed he, Brown and the rest of the 2017 World Cup group had and that the current England group potentially don’t, with the atmosphere sucked out of the stadium after they went behind.

The Warrington Wolves boss argued: “I think we’re looking here at small margins and the deflation comes from everyone in the stadium as well, and the players feel that energy, so I think it’s something they can only figure out between themselves.

“It’s very easy for us to sit here and talk about it, but I think it’s something that only they can figure out, and it comes down to belief.”

For Brown, he even suggested that head coach Shaun Wane is among those who doesn’t fully believe England can beat Australia as he recalled previous comments from Wane.

Brown said: “I think that subconsciously we don’t believe at the moment, even Shaun Wane. I listened to something he said, and he said we need 15 or 16 of our players to have the best game ever. That’s almost saying we need a miracle.

“These lads, they’ve played 300, 400 games, they’ve always tried to play the best game, they cannot just turn it on.

“We’ve got enough quality to open Australia up, I really believe that. George Williams is world-class, AJ Brimson is, Harry Smith is, we’ve got class over the field but I’m not sure we believe that when we go behind them that we can chase them down. I’m not sure.”

“Belief built on evidence” which England haven’t shown, claims Cunningham

England’s Women captain Jodie Cunningham also had her say, explaining that belief is “built on evidence” with the evidence so far suggesting that England can’t score enough points against an Australia side who haven’t been exceptional.

The Saints star said: “We’ve had two test matches against Australia who I think have not been outstanding in both of those games, and we’ve managed to score one try, and it was a crash over when the game was gone.

“I think you need a little bit of evidence to back up your belief, and at the minute I don’t think this side quite have that, despite great results against Samoa and Tonga.”

They’ll need to find that belief before the Test at Headingley to avoid a whitewash, something that George Williams claimed would be “embarrassing” with England’s captain admitting that they’re not as good as they thought they were coming into the Ashes.

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