England defeated France yesterday on the first step towards the 2025 World Cup.
However, the next step seems more important as England take on Tonga in a three game series at St Helens, Huddersfield Giants and Leeds Rhinos.
That was confirmed just before yesterday’s game and Shaun Wane revealed that he actually spoke about Tonga in his pre-match talk and not France:
“That made my talk before the game work because my talk before the game was about Tonga and what they will do and the stamp they will put on the game.
“That made my talk a lot easier so credit to the RFL for getting that on so it is something we can build towards and build on.
“It makes talking to players a lot easier.
“Hopefully we can get something solid for next year as well and people can plan for when the window will be and buy tickets and make sure our crowds are full.”
At halftime meanwhile he was unhappy with England’s defence:
“I was quite harsh defensively at halftime. Andy Last has been good with our attack this week but I focused on defence because there were a few things that weren’t right with our defence at halftime believe it or not.
“I’m not trying to embarrass France with that but I am looking at what we would be like against Tonga or Samoa.
“France were underdone. They were young but a big athletic team and we can only play what we play against and it leaves us in a good position for a tough series.
“I saw improvements in the second half which is probably the most satisfying thing for me.”