St Helens and England full-back Jack Welsby has made a bold prediction ahead of this year’s rugby league Ashes.
The Ashes are set to be contested for the first time in over 20 years with 24-year-old star Welsby one of several players in the England squad to have no memory of the final time the event was held.
England haven’t actually played Australia since the 2017 Rugby League World Cup Final and despite the Australians winning that tournament and the most recent one, held in 2022, Welsby has backed England to win the series 3-0.
He made that prediction when speaking to Sun Sport, boldly predicting a “whitewash” which would be among the biggest rugby league upsets in recent memory.
England are priced as 3/1 outsiders for the series and no England or Great Britain side have won since 1970, making Welsby’s prediction all the braver. The full-back is currently in a race to be fit in time for the series having suffered a knee injury against Hull KR earlier this year.
St Helens star tips England to upset odds and win rugby league Ashes
It’s expected that Welsby will be available but whether he is at full match fitness or in form for the series is another matter but he’s still very confident that Shaun Wane’s side can get the job done.
He did concede that he expects to be ‘nervous’ but argued: “I know they’ll be just as nervous coming over here playing, and they’re the favourites, they’ve got to come up and face us.
“They’ll be expecting to win, but so are we.”
The first test at Wembley will be the first international rugby league match played in London since England’s World Cup semi-final defeat to Samoa, however, Welsby believes the side have improved since then.
He explained: “I think since the Samoa semi-final in the World Cup, we’ve gradually got better and better.
“We’ve added new people to the squad, who add a lot to us, so there is going to be new faces again who have to step up, and become even better.
“I believe we can do that and upset the odds.”
The Test at Wembley will take place on October 25th, the first of three consecutive Saturdays where games are played with the second and third Tests contested at Everton’s new stadium and Headingley in Leeds.
