The first half of England’s third Ashes Tests against Australia has seen differing fortunes for two Hull KR stars with questions asked of Mikey Lewis and praise piled on Jez Litten.
Litten started at hooker once again with Mikey Lewis designated as England’s 14, just as he was last week. Shaun Wane had teased a bigger role for Lewis but his hand was forced as full-back AJ Brimson went off with a shoulder injury inside the opening ten minutes.
That meant Hull KR talisman Mikey Lewis was thrust into the role of full-back, one that he has played previously but hadn’t played throughout all of 2025 and much of 2024.
Australia’s second try came as a result of Lewis not clearing his line after a grubber kick with the Hull KR man swiping his boot at it, however, pundit James Graham has now claimed that Lewis should have put his body on the line.
Graham even argued that Lewis should have “risked getting a HIA” by diving on the ball, adding: “We know AJ Brimson is off injured and Mikey Lewis is there but he’s got to put his head where you don’t put your feet.
“He’s got to get that ball. He was there in time and he’s got to dive and put his body on the line.
“We spoke about Reece Walsh and what he’s prepared to do in those one on one situations and I’d like to see the same from Mikey Lewis.”
Hull KR star ‘played Walsh like a fool’
Former England half-back Kevin Brown also picked out that moment as key, arguing: “He’s got to put his head on the line and he’s got to catch the ball but we’re asking something of him that he’s not done all year.”
Despite Lewis’ woes, it was a different tale for Litten as he was the spark for England and created their try in the first-half when he ran from dummy half and then danced past Reece Walsh before putting in a grubber kick for George Williams to fall onto and score.
Hailing Litten, Graham said: “I’ve been really impressed with England’s attack. It’s been very direct and I thought Litten in and around the ruck has mirrored what Harry Grant has done.
“He did an excellent job through Reece Walsh, who he knew would go for the intercept and he played him like a fool. It was brilliant from Litten.”
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England hit back through George Williams! 👊 pic.twitter.com/I54oKiLIBl
— NRL (@NRL) November 8, 2025
Eric T Cat
November 8, 2025 at 9:17 pm
Jez Litten, Tom Johnstone, Dom Young, the three England p,Ayers who enhanced their reputations in this series.
As for “we’re close”, “the gap is narrowing”, I’ve never heard such unmitigated rubbish. If Australia had played a few war up ,arches to work through their paces they’d have buried England. So what if it was 8-12 after 60 minutes, Australia then scored three tries in 20 minutes!
Outplayed, overwhelmed, and beaten in all three matches, 18-70 over three matches is a humiliating defeat,mand Australia barely got out of second gear, the contained the English defence, made England play between their own try line and the Australian 40 metre line in the main. They were on the back foot. Wane wemt off to Union previously, he should go back, he’s ten years out of date for League, but about 70 years ahead of his time in Union!
If he doesn’t choose to fall on his sword by Monday, he should be sacked by Tuesday.
7
John
November 9, 2025 at 8:18 am
Two things. not go the association football route and “just blame the goalkeeper”. No doubt Lewis could and should have done more for that incident, but all of Australia’s first three tries came as a direct result of lost balls in our own 30 metres, so quite a few people to criticise.
Secondly, fully agree with Eric T Cat’s analysis of Wane’s abilities and what course of action he should take next. If, like the southern hemisphere teams, we played more international matches, I’m sure his obvious shortcomings would have been exposed long before now.
Let’s not look at the fact that we would have had to play fantastic rugby to beat the Ozzies. Let’s look at how badly we performed as compared with what we could reasonably expect. Finally, ask yourself how many of last year’s super league teams would England have beaten on those performances – and it’s irrelevant how many foreign nationals are in those teams because few of them would have forced a way into the Australian side.