Shaun Wane hits out at Kristian Woolf for accusing officials of cheating

England have claimed a Test Series win over Tonga after a war of words has emerged in recent weeks between former Wigan Warriors boss Shaun Wane and Kristian Woolf as the two coaches clash as much as their players.

After the first Test Match, Kristian Woolf cited a number of things that went against his side such as the conditions and the officiating from Liam Moore.

This did not sit well with Shaun Wane and after the second Test, Wane said: “Yeah absolutely. I didn’t understand any of it [Woolf’s comments], it was factually wrong about the time of the ruck and I didn’t understand any of it.

“We didn’t say a word and we just trained hard and turned up with another win today so no excuses from us.”

He continued to say that Woolf and co had accused the referees of cheating among other excused with Wane saying: “I’m really, really proud. I was absolutely desperate to win that game today, just from the things that’s been said about my players this week, and about my team, my mates, really upset me.

“It was a massive motivator for us, them talking about how ‘we didn’t win the game’, they don’t know Mikey, and the ground wasn’t right and it was heavy. The excuse about the ruck and the referees cheating, so to prove them wrong by a firm pitch, a really slow ruck, and they couldn’t have anything their own way again.

“It was just showing a lot of disrespect from the players so to get those two wins is great and I’d be interested to see what the next excuse is.”

The Test Series will conclude at Leeds Rhinos’ AMT Headingley Stadium next weekend with England motivated to make it a series whitewash against Woolf’s men after this war of words.