Shaun Wane reveals interesting reason behind decision to take off St Helens star Tommy Makinson

Many were surprised by Shaun Wane’s England selection today.

Not only were some expecting a near full strength 17 to build momentum into the quarter-finals which Wane likely didn’t produce with squad numbers 1, 3, 4, 9, 10 and 11 all left out of the side.

Furthermore, many were shocked to see Tommy Makinson at fullback and Jack Welsby at centre.

However, England’s performance proved any doubters wrong as they produced England’s biggest score in a World Cup and their third highest ever score with 17 tries in a 94-4 win.

One of those tries went to Makinson who looked good at fullback till he was taken off allowing Welsby to move to one and prompting fellow St Helens teammates Joe Batchelor and Morgan Knowles to move out of position to centre and second-row respectively.

Many might have been surprised by the decision to take off Makinson but Shaun Wane has shed some light on the decision which was truly fascinating.

He revealed: “I get a live feed on GPS on what speed metres and how many metres Tommy is run. I knew when the score got to blowout that his metres were high which increases the risk of injury.”

He then joked that he hopes this means he will get less hassle over his selections: “People don’t know that, I hope that helps and that I get a bit less hassle.”