“That’s down to me” – Shaun Wane takes responsibility for England’s Rugby League Ashes defeat as Jack Welsby point made

England Rugby League boss Shaun Wane believes that his side’s efforts at Wembley on Saturday were worse than he first thought, and put the blame on himself as to why they failed to perform.

The home nation were well beaten by an Australia side that weren’t particularly at their best, and will no doubt improve as the series progresses.

England were kept scoreless for 77 minutes of the game, with their failure to execute in good-ball areas a key reason for their defeat. Another important factor was their lack of physicality in the pack, and Wane addressed that point in his pre-match press conference this week.

Wane, who stated that he will look to make two to four changes this week, said that his side’s performance came nowhere close to matching the occasion, with him revealing the game didn’t look anything like a Test match.

Asked if, after watching the game back, his opinion on the game had changed, he revealed it had, but not for the better.

“[It was] Worse, definitely worse,” he said. “We did some good things, but just not enough. I don’t think it was a real Test match. They were too good. They were the worthy winners and we didn’t challenge them, which is the most disappointing thing. They didn’t see anywhere near the best of us and that’s down to me.”

The former Wigan Warriors boss explained that the blame lied with him, due to an lack of preparation and training sessions that proved to be not as effective as they’d hoped.

“We need to look at training and GPS. We’ve spent all weekend studying the detail of what we did. Every session, every drill. There’s a reason why them players weren’t at their very best last Saturday, and that’s our job. The beauty of having a series like this is we get the chance to go again and put things right.”

Looking ahead to next week, Wane explained how execution was the top of the list to fix up.

He said: “We’ll challenge them in more areas and we’ll end our sets better. The knock-on effect of that is huge, we just put ourselves under so much pressure.”

England boss issues support to Jack Welsby following Rugby League Ashes criticism

One of the English players who weren’t at their best on Saturday was full-back Jack Welsby. The St Helens star couldn’t quite make any sort of impact against the Australians, with both his attacking and defensive efforts questioned.

Calls have been made for Welsby to be dropped from the side in favour of NRL man AJ Brimson, but Wane insisted that the two-time Super League Young Player of the Year had an off-day, and he has no doubt he will show up if given another chance.

“We’ll look after Jack,” he said. “We’re a very close group and he’s a champions bloke, no doubt about that. He’ll be looked after within the team.

“He’s done a lot of good things, has Jack, but he just had an off-day on Saturday, but a few people did.

“I don’t know what the criticism is, I genuinely don’t know. But, I know what Jack’s capable of and he’s a very strong character. Whatever has been said about him, he’ll come back stronger.”

Elsewhere, hooker Jez Litten found himself starting from the bench, despite being the best player in his position across the year.

Wane discussed his role in the team, admitting that whilst he agrees Litten is Super League’s best, the way he wants his side to set up works better with the Hull KR man entering the fray later on in the game.

He said: “He’s without a doubt been the best nine this year. But, it was better for the team for him to be on the bench. It’s not like when I played, when being on the bench was thought of as you weren’t good enough to start. It’s not like that anymore.

“The bench players have a huge part to play in the game overall, and he understands that, Jez. He went into the game as the best nine in the comp, and when he came on he backed that up.”

Wane added that whatever team he puts out in Everton this weekend, the goal will be to take the game to the Kangaroos and put on a performance worthy of an Ashes standard. If they can do that, England may have a chance to level the series.

“At the end of the day, I want my team to go out on Saturday, and I want it to look like a proper Test match. It didn’t look like a Test match to me, it wasn’t physical, they were better in many areas, so this week I want it to look like a real Test match, and we need to give a better account of ourselves.”

Serious About Rugby League has launched a brand new podcast which can be watched in full on our YouTube channel here.