Rugby League Ashes: England series defeat to Australia is a ‘reality check’

After suffering a crushing defeat in an error-strewn display at Wembley, Wayne’s side were much improved on Saturday in the home of rugby league in the north of England.

In a thrilling opening period, England forced the Kangaroos into errors and took all field position and possession, but did not let it count on the scoreboard.

Interestingly, England have now scored just one try over the course of 160 minutes, with St Helens hooker Daryl Clarke getting the better of them late in the loss in London.

Australia, by contrast, have scored six goals in two matches – and when errors started creeping into the home side’s performance just after half-time, it was a matter of when they were punished severely, not if.

Cameron Munster went first, then Hudson Young did too. After the score was 4-4, England were 10 points behind.

“I’m proud of most of the game,” Wayne said. “I thought we were good for 70 minutes.”

“A 10-minute shutdown after half-time hurt us a lot. Munster’s first try was poor and should not have been scored in a test match.

“We are devastated. We are very proud of the players, but we were very disappointed after half-time, which cost us dearly.”

Although the next World Cup finals in Australia and Papua New Guinea are less than 12 months away, England’s immediate focus will be on trying to restore some pride, avoid a series of whitewashes, and iron out the mistakes that have troubled Wayne.

The 61-year-old added: “I wanted to see Australia bowl more. I wanted us to increase the pressure in the match, we did not do that last week.”

“We did that this week. It’s just a little detail in our attack where we could have put them under more pressure. We need to defend both.” [tries] better.

“Fair play against Australia – it doesn’t hurt them. They come out strong when they get a chance, and we didn’t do that, but defensively we can and must do better.”

“They will be obsessed with winning 3-0 and we need to be obsessed to get it 2-1. I said that to the players. This has to be our obsession. It will be a difficult week but whoever wants it more will win next week.”