Shaun Wane answers England future question after second Test defeat with ‘I couldn’t care less’ comment

Shaun Wane was left ‘devastated’ after watching his side lose 14-4 to Australia in Saturday’s second Test at Hill Dickinson Stadium.

England were the better side for much of the game on Merseyside as they built pressure and improved on last week’s showing at Wembley. But they huffed and puffed with the ball in hand and couldn’t convert their possession and field position into points.

Ultimately then, they paid the price for their impotence in attack after the break when Cameron Munster and Hudson Young touched down at the start of the second half to take the game away from the hosts and ultimately win the Ashes series.

Wane was particularly frustrated by the manner of the first try with Munster slipping through the challenge of George Williams to touch down. And, while the head coach was pleased with elements of his side’s showing, he was hugely disappointed to go two down in the series.

“Proud for the majority of the game,” Wane said after the game. “I thought for 70 minutes we were good but the switch off 10 minutes after half-time hurt us immensely.

“The first try was soft and shouldn’t be scored in a Test match. We did a lot of good things today just not enough.”

“Devastated” – Shaun Wane reacts to 14-4 loss to Australia

Asked whether he thought it was an improved showing, he added: “It’s hard for me to think that way at the minute. They’ve won it and we’ve not and it hurts. My assistants will think that we’ve improved but my overriding thought is that we got beat. I’m so disappointed.

“We’re devastated, it hurts that one. The players had a dig but I’m so disappointed with that period after half-time which cost us dearly. I’m just really really hurt at the moment.

“We need to defend better and I don’t feel like they should have been tries scored in Test match. Fair play to Australia, it’s no detriment to them, they turn up and they’re ruthless and we weren’t but defensively, we can and should do better.

“I wanted to see more thrown at them. They defended really well. I was pleased with that first half, we had a lot of ball but the main thing is I wanted us to build pressure in the game and we didn’t do that last week. We did that this week but it’s just a bit of detail in our attack.”

Shaun Wane shuts down England future talk after Ashes defeat

With next autumn’s World Cup approaching on the horizon, Wane will be desperate to avoid going into that on the back of a series whitewash at the hands of the Aussies.

However, the head coach was asked what such a scoreline would mean for his future, with Wane admitting ‘he couldn’t care less’.

“Not thought about that, me personally,” he added. “The only thing I’m thinking about is how the players perform and we have to finish the series 2-1.

“I don’t want to finish the series 3-0 and that’s my obsession, whatever happens with me, I couldn’t care less.”

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