Ashes Review #3 - Let the inquest begin

It is not a great position to be in when the inquest into England's Ashes performance began after the second of three test matches.

Was Wane too loyal to the old guard? How can we expect England to compete when they haven't had a single training session in 2025 until October let along an actual match? How can we replicate the intensity of State of Origin and the NRL to prepare ourselves better? What do we do, or can we do anything, about the fact that there are no competitive international teams for England to face outside of Oceania?

And what of England's preparation? Australia have immersed themselves in all the UK has to offer, travelling from Scotland to London and places in between. All too willing to pose for photographs, sign shirts and take time to talk to English fans. Yes, Rugby League players often do this. But they don't have to. We should not take the manner in which Australia has conducted itself for granted.

By contrast, when the Ashes series was rumoured to be moved to England, Shaun Wane joked that he would like to see all three tests held in Wigan. At least I think it was a joke. Given that England have barely ventured further than Wigan in its preparation for today's test at Leeds, perhaps it wasn't.

It may seem a touch of an over-reaction to what appeared to be a tongue-in-cheek remark but tongue-in-cheek or not, such comments give the impression of an insular game.

Returning to the pre-inquest, we must also consider the improvement of other nations ahead of next year's World Cup. Samoa, who eliminated England in the 2022 World Cup, are looking stronger and stronger. New Zealand have impressed in the Pacific Championships and England always struggle against them outside of the UK. We know all too well what Australia can offer.

In next year's World Cup, England will be in a group with Samoa or Tonga where only the top team qualifies for the semi finals. It is a very real possibility that England will not make it out of the group phases and will almost certainly have to beat Samoa or Tonga to do so.

Despite all of this, the child-like naivety of sports fans will probably take over as the World Cup nears, and I will still convince myself that we have a chance.

For 80 minutes, it was time to leave such naval-gazing to one side as England focused on avoiding a 3-0 humbling and on gaining some respectability back. Australia appeared in no mood for charity, with coach Kevin Walters naming the strongest side at his disposal.

If the first two tests were bad from an England perspective, the start here was even worse. Australia, inexplicably, worked an overlap from a play the ball where the game had been stopped to score after four minutes. Then, AJ Brimson left the field injured meaning Mikey Lewis had to fill in at the unfamiliar full back role. Matty Lees went off injured too (although he did return). 

Australia then made in 0-12 with another try that should not be conceded at test level. I am loath to criticise Mikey Lewis for not dealing with the grubber kick. An actual full back should deal with it. A stand off trying to fill in there in an Ashes series - it's tough.

I thought Australia showed an element of complacency by not kicking a penalty to make it 14-0. It said to me that they did not think it worth extending the lead to three scores as England wouldn't score more than 12. Ultimately, they were right but this decision made the game tougher for themselves.

That was because England fought back. For probably the only time this series, England executed an attacking move well. Alex Walmsley, who caused problems for Australia, scattered defenders. Jez Litten noticed an overchase, made a break, sold a brilliant dummy to Reece Walsh and weighted a kick perfectly for George Williams to score.

Litten has been a bright spark this series and showed he belonged at international level. Williams tried all he knew today. He took the line on and adapted his passing game. It was not enough but not for the want of trying.

Australia gave away a needless penalty before half time and England kicked to make it 8-12. And from that Australian moment of complacency, a potential 0-14 half time lead turned into a contest.

England's primary problem (and there have been many) in this series have been poor starts to the second half. This time, it was better. That was aided by a disallowed Australian try. A try disallowed in all likelihood because we didn't have sufficient camera angles to rule accurately on an offside decision (a debate for another time but for the peak of our sport, that is poor).

As England pushed for the leveller or even better, it was the same old story. We tried. We had the territory. We just could not score a try. Australia absorbed the England pressure with a concerning level of ease.

Once absorbed, Australia struck with three more tries for an 8-30 victory. England hoped to end the series with a face-saving win. They actually ended it with their heaviest defeat of the series.

Australia were not at their vintage best throughout the entire series. The greatest worry is that they did not need to be. England did not lead for one second. You got the sense that if England upped their game, Australia could have quite easily put the foot on the throttle yet further.

Saying that, there was a lot to like about this Australian side. The stardust of Reece Walsh. The dynamism of Harry Grant from dummy half. The comedy relief provided by Mark Nawaqanitawase.

The greatest praise of all is reserved for Cameron Munster. What a classy operator this bloke is. The way in which he controls a game and then inserts himself at a crucial moment is magnificent.

England entered this series confident in their half backs. There is an argument England have a level of depth in the half backs not seen for some time. But they are not in the same league as Cameron Munster and Nathan Cleary (and there is no shame in that).

With that, the first Ashes series in 22 years came to an end. On the field, the lack of a contest made the series feel underwhelming.

Off it, we saw a record crowd for an Ashes test at Wembley. We visited a new stadium at Everton and sold it out at unprecedented speed. We finished with a test in a proper Rugby League venue. 132,418 people went through the turnstiles in the last three weeks. The appetite for this series was there and I anticipate this will act as a welcome boost to the coffers of the RFL.

The TV viewing figures were a touch disappointing and quite a bit less than, say, England World Cup matches of recent years. This shows there is still work to do to engage the sporting public at large.

Having regular matches between England and Australia is essential and I hope this series means that never again do we have a seven year hiatus between such fixtures.

The inquest into England's performances had already begun before the third test. The performance and result today meant that the breadth of that inquest will only have increased further.

Shaun Wane has taken some stick throughout the series. Some of it from me and some of it deserved. However, I am not sure that any coach would have won this series for England. 

Simply put, Australia have far better players than England and consequently they will win far more often than they lose. Extrapolated over a three game series, that makes an Australia victory all the more likely. 

How do we change that? Expanding the play offs to 8 teams and Super League to 14 teams probably won't help. Neither will the fact that the England squad won't be together again before boarding a flight to next year's World Cup. 

More players in the higher standard NRL may help internationally but Super League would be diminished at the same time.

We end the series asking the same questions that we always do. The problem is we have been searching for the answers for over 50 years and still have not found them.