Record attendance, Herbie Farnworth and other positives England must take from Ashes loss

England lost the first rugby league Ashes Test in 22 years but it shouldn’t be all doom and gloom with a number of positives to take from Wembley.

Australia won 26-6 with relative ease, turning an 8-0 lead at the half into a quite dominant victory that didn’t really see them get out of second gear.

That’s certainly not a positive for England as the Australians will only get better this series and they have a lot of scope to grow, but so do Shaun Wane’s side and they did show for periods that they can compete.

England had the better of the opening exchanges with the game turning on Reece Walsh’s opener which you could argue should have been ruled out for either the initial obstruction, or for the forward pass from Josh Addo-Carr.

Neither were called but such is life and England didn’t fold at that point. In fact, they went into the break only 8-0 down with their start to the second-half killing them as they conceded early and allowed Australia to run away with it.

A disappointing result for English rugby league but a day filled with positives as well. Here are some of them.

What positives can England rugby league take from their Ashes opener?

Rugby League Ashes attendance record

The Wembley opener was an attendance record for an Ashes game in England with over 60,000 turning out in the capital to watch the first Test, showcasing that the sport is perhaps in a better position that many suggest it to be.

An official crowd of 60,812 was confirmed and the task now is to build on that and it seems that rugby league in the south is in the perfect position to do so, given the new London Broncos era.

Australian investment with a legend of rugby league in Darren Lockyer involved will surely turn any Aussie ex-pats onto London Broncos, if they weren’t already, and we could finally get to see what the sport being strong in the capital looks like.

Today’s official attendance is 60,812, a new UK Rugby League Ashes record💥

Thank you to everyone for your support 👏#EnglandRL pic.twitter.com/s3HP6hXc9d

— England Rugby League (@England_RL) October 25, 2025

Herbie Farnworth

There aren’t many sports where England can claim to have one of the best in the world, not least rugby league given Australia’s dominance, but Herbie Farnworth certainly is that.

The Dolphins centre was the clear England standout on Saturday and the best part is that he’s still only 25 meaning we’ve got years of this incredible athlete to come.

Farnworth wasn’t the only outside back to play well with Dom Young brilliant when carrying out of yardage and Tom Johnstone very strong aerially. England might have lost the battle in plenty of positions on Saturday but the outside backs stood up.

It’s only 1-0

It was a devastating defeat given the adrenaline and hype that had gone into the week with rugby league really seeming to take over London and heading to unprecedented places such as the London Stock Exchange and 10 Downing Street.

However, the series isn’t lost yet and it’s now set to return to the heartlands where England fans will likely outweigh Australian fans.

Australia certainly have improvements but so do England and that’s what Shaun Wane’s side must embrace. Focus on improving what you can whilst creating a plan to put the Australians off doing what they can.

There was perhaps too much respect shown at times on Saturday and that needs to change but it certainly can.

As Jamie Peacock said on the BBC post-match: “It’s not fatal but it’s just 1-0 to the Australians. Get ourselves off the canvas and beat them.”

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