England urged to focus on ‘basics’ over ‘emotion’ after sloppy first Ashes Test

After England’s 26-6 defeat to Australia in the first Test of the rugby league Ashes, they’ve been reminded of the need to ice the basics with two former England legends rubbishing the suggestion of winning games on emotion and grit.

England started well against the Kangaroos without ever truly threatening their goal line, however, Australia soaked all that up and then punished Shaun Wane‘s side just after the 20-minute mark when Reece Walsh scored the opener.

More chances would come for England with Walsh making a brilliant read to bat down a Jake Wardle pass just before Tom Johnstone’s kick went a little bit too long, with Australia then adding a penalty before the break to make it 8-0.

England payer ratings v Australia after defeat in first Test

Australia’s first set of the second half saw Reece Walsh make 80 metres in a moment that Sam Burgess claimed ‘summed England’s second half up’, with Jon Wilkin referring to as the moment that ‘broke England’. Angus Crichton would score shortly off the back of it with both he and Walsh scoring braces before Daryl Clark’s consolation.

Post-match, Sam Burgess and Jamie Peacock have argued that England need to remove the emotional leverage and just focus on doing the basics right when they head to Everton for a must-win game.

Rugby league legends call for focus on basics, not emotions

Much of the build-up to the series has been the fact it’s the first rugby league Ashes in 22 years and that England/Great Britain haven’t won since 1970 and that saw Jon Wilkin point out England’s focus on “emotional leverage” and an ‘underdog’ tag.

On that, Jamie Peacock stated: “I don’t think it’s about the history of the game next week, it’s not about the emotions.

“It’s about having the concentration and creativeness and resilience to get your detail right, and do the things that every single player for England knows what wins big games, and they know how they need to play to do that.

“We didn’t do that for long enough as individuals to do that. That’s what the focus needs to be next week, not the tradition, you need to create some nostalgia by winning a game, that should be the focus next week.”

Warrington Wolves coach Sam Burgess agreed, adding: “The emotion’s great, but if you don’t feel emotion or a bit of passion after the anthems have gone on, full stadium, you’re wearing the England shirt playing against Australia, well you need to check your pulse.

“The emotion will be there naturally, I think they need to get the basics done well and have a bit more connection on their edge D, because they got pulled a piece a couple of times.”

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England must leave Wembley emotion behind

Burgess would then argue that the worst thing England can do is take the emotion of their Wembley loss into training.

He argued: “I think the worst thing we can do is carry the emotion from right now into the week. The two coaches, head coaches’ interviews, there’s a stark contrast between them both. One was relaxed and happy and the other one was down and beaten.

“We’ve just got to leave that here. Review the game, get it out of the way and by the time you get back up north, it’s a fresh day and fresh week.

“Take some great lessons out of it because as we’ve all said, there’s some wonderful green shoots in the performance. We just need more of it, more consistently.”