Sean Wayne: I’m the man who will take England to the World Cup

Head coach Shaun Wayne says there is “no doubt” he is the right man to lead England to the 2026 World Cup finals in Australia and Papua New Guinea despite his side’s 3-0 defeat in the Ashes Test series.

Wayne (61 years old) took over as coach of the England national team in 2020 after succeeding Wayne Bennett and led them to the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup, where they suffered a painful golden point defeat against Samoa.

Since then, back-to-back victories over Tonga and Samoa have followed, with the former Wigan boss winning 14 of the 19 matches in charge.

But his position was scrutinized by sections of the English media and some fans during the Ashes series, in which world champions Australia won at Wembley, Hill Dickinson Stadium and AMT Headingley.

When asked directly if he should remain at the helm, Wayne told BBC Sport: “Absolutely. No doubt about it.”

In a post-match press conference, he was asked if he thought he was the right man to lead England to the World Cup, and he said: “I don’t think so, I know I am. The only guy I want.” [the backing of] It’s the players and the staff and I know I have that.

“The talks are not planned yet but they will be. We will report back on the series and what we think we need to do to make it better. We are all heading in the same direction.

“I need to have a conversation with the Premier League in the next few weeks about the direction we are going in. I will make recommendations to give us a chance to prepare these players for the World Cup and we will take it from there.”

Wayne’s critics will point to three unforced changes to England’s spine following their first Test defeat to Australia at Wembley and a lack of penetration in attack.

Without Victor Radley, England were short of 13 players to play the ball – and while the performance improved once they returned to a halves combination of Harry Smith and George Williams, and Morgan Smithies was brought in, to some extent Wayne started the series in no-win mode.

His omission of Super League Man of Steel winner Jake Connor raised eyebrows before the ball was even kicked and Mikey Lewis’ limited role in the second Test proved an unwelcome talking point.

However, captain George Williams made it clear that there was unanimous support for Wayne among his players.

“Absolutely no doubt. We all believe in him 100 percent,” Williams said.

“What we’ve built in this series has been really good and Sean is definitely the guy. As players, we’re just looking at ourselves really. We really thought we could do something special in this series and it was 3-0, which is a bit embarrassing.”

Earlier in the week, Hull KR hooker Jez Litten said he “loved” playing under Wayne, while St Helens prop Matty Lees gave him a strong endorsement.

“he [Shaun Wane] “He is the perfect fit for the job,” Lees said. “I love every opportunity I get to play under him; he brings out the best in me and he is one of the best coaches I have ever worked with.”