Pundits pick turning point that ‘broke England’s spirit’ in Ashes opener

England have lost the opening Test of the 2025 rugby league Ashes and a key moment has been identified as the breaking point.

Shaun Wane’s side lost 26-6 as they were outscored four tries to one with England’s only try coming as a consolation in the 77th minute when Daryl Clark scooted over from dummy half.

The game was out of England’s sight by the 64th minute when Angus Crichton scored his second try of the game but the spirit of England had been broken almost 25 minutes earlier according to pundit Jon Wikin.

Trailing 8-0 at the half England had a strong set to start the second-half which ended with a booming Jez Litten kick that looked to pin full-back Reece Walsh in the corner, however, a disorganised chase allowed the Brisbane Broncos star to skip through England’s line and make 70 metres.

Whilst Australia didn’t score in that moment, they “broke England’s spirit” according to Jon Wilkin and it’s hard to argue with him.

England’s ‘cold start’ to the second half proves costly

It was Sam Burgess who first identified that moment, explaining post-match on the BBC: “England started the second half very cold, they missed the jump. I thought Jez kicked brilliantly out of dummy half early, kicked a play early and put Reece Walsh in the corner but the poor kick chase down the right side there just summed up the second half for England.

“They started cold and they didn’t really warm up too much into the game plan and against a team like Australia who have got so many amazing players now.”

In response, Wilkin said: “That break really just broke England’s spirit, and it led to a period where they just couldn’t get any field position back.”

Just minutes after Walsh’s break, Angus Crichton scored his first try with the second-rower hitting a gap and then having 20 yards of space to run into as Jack Welsby stuck to his goal-line, something that Burgess questioned.

“I thought Welsby at the back could have done a little bit better as well,” argued Burgess.

“He just made it a little bit easy for Angus. At least make him have to execute a two-on-one, he’s got to have some contest on that. When we saw that, we were worried. That was a cold start to the second half, a very cold start.”

That score made it 14-0 with England facing a mountain to get back into the game and for Australia, it simply bred confidence into them as they continued to execute without ever really being challenged too much.

Both Crichton and Walsh would score a second as Australia won the first rugby league Ashes Test since 2002, and they did so with relative ease.

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