England coach Shaun Wane has revealed injury worries over two key players and pledged team changes for Saturday’s second and final Test against Samoa at AMT Headingley.
The hosts kicked off the two-match Test series with a 34-18 victory at Wigan last Sunday, but the bruising battle took its toll. “It was a physical game, even though there were quite a few points scored,” Wane said of the series opener.
“Dom Young got a knock and Matty Ashton as well; there were about four or five, but nothing major.”
Dewsbury-born Young began his career with Huddersfield Giants before going on to make a huge impact in the NRL for Newcastle Knights and his current club Sydney Roosters, finishing among the top try scorers in the competition in each season. He had a strong game on the right wing last weekend, while Ashton, of Warrington Wolves, bagged a brace of tries from the other flank.
If either is ruled out this week, that will almost certainly mean a first cap for Wigan Warriors winger Liam Marshall who was top try scorer in Super League this year, with 27. Wane will check on the fitness situation before settling on his side for this weekend, but confirmed it won’t be the same 17.
Who could come into the England side for Saturday?
A two-Test series – rather than the usual three – has limited the players’ opportunities and the coach is keen to give game time to as many of his squad as possible, confirming: “I will make some changes, definitely.”
One of those will be in the front row with Luke Thompson set to feature after serving a one-match ban picked up from Wigan Warriors’ Grand Final win over Hull KR.
“He’s fast-twitch, runs hard and has done a great job for Wigan this year,” Wane said.
“He will definitely play. He would have played last Sunday, given half a chance, but it wasn’t to be. He’s a great player and I love him to pieces.”
Warrington hooker Danny Walker and back-rower Ben Currie; Wigan second-row Junior Nsemba and prop Chris Hill – who will join Salford Red Devils next year from Huddersfield Giants – are the other players who didn’t feature last Sunday.
Wane backtracks on initial criticism of 34-18 performance
Meanwhile, Wane has revised his initially rather downbeat opinion of last weekend’s performance after reviewing the match. “I was more impressed when I watched it back,” he said.
“When I saw it again, we did a lot more really good things. I am really satisfied, I was impressed with a lot of the detail and a lot of gameplan stuff. I was a lot happier.”
However, Wane accepts mistakes with the ball are an area England need to address. He reflected: “We got away with it on Sunday; we made errors and they scored, but we still beat Samoa.
“That’s great for us, but we might not get away with it this Saturday. They are going to be a lot better, so we need to be a lot smarter. We can’t make unforced errors or give away interceptions – in international football you can’t do that.”
Wane reckons both teams will be better for last week’s match. “We only had one and a half sessions [before last week’s game],” he noted.
“We will have a couple more this week and we will improve. We will need to because I think Samoa, their smart coaching staff, will see ways they can put us under pressure. We need to be smarter.”