International Wrap #6 - from Wayne's world to Wane's World?
Great Britain made it 3 losses from 3
with defeat to New Zealand on Saturday morning, as the first Lions Tour since
2006 went from a disappointment to a disaster.
The number of withdrawals and injuries before Britain left the shores did not help. Nor did Wayne Bennett’s imbalanced squad selection.
Rugby League has a habit of ruthlessly exposing any weakness and this has happened to Wayne Bennett, with the only specialist centre in the squad suffering a tour-ending injury in the first game. This quickly followed by one of only two specialist wingers suffering the same fate the following week.
Are these the comments of a man who really has a desire to coach England / Great Britain? Are these the comments of a man who is concerned with the performance of the national team?
Maybe he does care, although he fails to give that impression. I do not believe that a coach has to be carrying on in the stand to show that he cares. Ian Watson for one was the personification of calm in the Super League play offs, but there was no question of his commitment to Salford.
Pundits now line up to criticise Bennett, with Brian Carney fronting the queue in an impassioned editorial for Sky Sports.
I do not know what to make of Bennett’s comments regarding Regan Grace. On the one hand, is it wrong to treat Great Britain as an England training exercise, disregarding the other home nations? Or, alternatively, is Bennett’s honesty in refusing to mask the façade that Britain is simply England in a smarter kit, praiseworthy? I suppose that’s for you to decide.
I suggested in an earlier blog that bringing back Great Britain was a vanity project of former RFL head Nigel Wood, that has lumbered his successors in Ralph Rimmer and Kevin Sinfield. Given the terrible nature of the tour, irreparable damage may have been done to the Britain brand. This should act as a warning of making decisions based on misty-eyed nostalgia, rather than reason.
But the next question is what do we do about England? Can we sack Wayne Bennett as England coach for poor performances for Great Britain, which technically is a different entity? If we do, then this is an acknowledgement of a failure in the Britain concept and that it was nothing more than England in a different jersey.
On the other hand, do we keep Bennett to maintain the façade and try and save face? Is this a decision that we can avoid putting off with an Australian tour coming up in 2020 and a World Cup in 2021? The last thing we need is a disastrous tour in 2019 and a whitewash to Australia in 2020 when trying to host the most successful World Cup in 2021.
The opinion of the rugby league public is almost unanimous. That is to replace Wayne Bennett with Shaun Wane, with his name trending on Twitter shortly after today’s game.
Wane is the obvious candidate for the England job, should Bennett’s contract not be renewed. He had a hugely successful spell at Wigan and is currently without a rugby league job. If he took over at England and approached the job in the same way as he did the Wigan job, then he would certainly not face accusations of being uninterested, unlike Wayne Bennett.
Given his track record, you would be confident of seeing an uncompromising side who would do anything to try and win. But would Wane play an entertaining style and liven up our limp attack, our Achilles heel during this tour? This was a criticism often levelled at him whilst coach at Wigan.
There are some big decisions to make at RFL HQ if England are to have a chance of winning the 2021 World Cup...
The number of withdrawals and injuries before Britain left the shores did not help. Nor did Wayne Bennett’s imbalanced squad selection.
Rugby League has a habit of ruthlessly exposing any weakness and this has happened to Wayne Bennett, with the only specialist centre in the squad suffering a tour-ending injury in the first game. This quickly followed by one of only two specialist wingers suffering the same fate the following week.
This led to the national side lining
up with a three-quarter line of Blake Austin, Jack Hughes, Jake Connor and
Jermaine McGillvary against New Zealand. Meanwhile a long list of available
wingers sit at home. Admittedly, Britain has less depth in the centre positions
following Mark Percival’s and Kallum Watkins’ withdrawals.
Although you would have to question why Reece Lyne was deemed good enough to make the England squad last year as a back-up centre, yet this year was deemed not good enough for Britain when only one specialist centre was taken.
If we are seeking some form of positive from the tour, Britain’s defence has been quite good, save for today. But what is an unedifying fact is that Britain have failed to score more than 1 try in any of their matches and the earliest minute that they have scored a try was in the 51st minute!
The Wayne Bennett era at England didn’t get off to the best start in 2016 with a disappointing performance in a home four nations. The next two years saw significant improvement, with England reaching their first World Cup final in 22 years and pushing Australia all the way before a series victory against New Zealand in 2018. This year has seen most of that progress undone.
Wayne Bennett has never been the most media-friendly coach, characterised by curt responses during interviews and at times sending his assistant coaches to front up. It’s difficult to criticise Bennett for that, it’s just his personality and if he can build a successful team, then who cares? But if he does not succeed, this tour being a prime example, then it will be used as a stick to beat him with.
Some of Bennett’s comments this tour has treated the Great Britain brand with contempt. Firstly, suggesting that Regan Grace was not called up because he was treating the tour as preparation for England’s World Cup 2021 campaign. And then, the bizarre comments relating to Blake Austin playing on the wing today.
Although you would have to question why Reece Lyne was deemed good enough to make the England squad last year as a back-up centre, yet this year was deemed not good enough for Britain when only one specialist centre was taken.
If we are seeking some form of positive from the tour, Britain’s defence has been quite good, save for today. But what is an unedifying fact is that Britain have failed to score more than 1 try in any of their matches and the earliest minute that they have scored a try was in the 51st minute!
The Wayne Bennett era at England didn’t get off to the best start in 2016 with a disappointing performance in a home four nations. The next two years saw significant improvement, with England reaching their first World Cup final in 22 years and pushing Australia all the way before a series victory against New Zealand in 2018. This year has seen most of that progress undone.
Wayne Bennett has never been the most media-friendly coach, characterised by curt responses during interviews and at times sending his assistant coaches to front up. It’s difficult to criticise Bennett for that, it’s just his personality and if he can build a successful team, then who cares? But if he does not succeed, this tour being a prime example, then it will be used as a stick to beat him with.
Some of Bennett’s comments this tour has treated the Great Britain brand with contempt. Firstly, suggesting that Regan Grace was not called up because he was treating the tour as preparation for England’s World Cup 2021 campaign. And then, the bizarre comments relating to Blake Austin playing on the wing today.
Are these the comments of a man who really has a desire to coach England / Great Britain? Are these the comments of a man who is concerned with the performance of the national team?
Maybe he does care, although he fails to give that impression. I do not believe that a coach has to be carrying on in the stand to show that he cares. Ian Watson for one was the personification of calm in the Super League play offs, but there was no question of his commitment to Salford.
Pundits now line up to criticise Bennett, with Brian Carney fronting the queue in an impassioned editorial for Sky Sports.
I do not know what to make of Bennett’s comments regarding Regan Grace. On the one hand, is it wrong to treat Great Britain as an England training exercise, disregarding the other home nations? Or, alternatively, is Bennett’s honesty in refusing to mask the façade that Britain is simply England in a smarter kit, praiseworthy? I suppose that’s for you to decide.
I suggested in an earlier blog that bringing back Great Britain was a vanity project of former RFL head Nigel Wood, that has lumbered his successors in Ralph Rimmer and Kevin Sinfield. Given the terrible nature of the tour, irreparable damage may have been done to the Britain brand. This should act as a warning of making decisions based on misty-eyed nostalgia, rather than reason.
But the next question is what do we do about England? Can we sack Wayne Bennett as England coach for poor performances for Great Britain, which technically is a different entity? If we do, then this is an acknowledgement of a failure in the Britain concept and that it was nothing more than England in a different jersey.
On the other hand, do we keep Bennett to maintain the façade and try and save face? Is this a decision that we can avoid putting off with an Australian tour coming up in 2020 and a World Cup in 2021? The last thing we need is a disastrous tour in 2019 and a whitewash to Australia in 2020 when trying to host the most successful World Cup in 2021.
The opinion of the rugby league public is almost unanimous. That is to replace Wayne Bennett with Shaun Wane, with his name trending on Twitter shortly after today’s game.
Wane is the obvious candidate for the England job, should Bennett’s contract not be renewed. He had a hugely successful spell at Wigan and is currently without a rugby league job. If he took over at England and approached the job in the same way as he did the Wigan job, then he would certainly not face accusations of being uninterested, unlike Wayne Bennett.
Given his track record, you would be confident of seeing an uncompromising side who would do anything to try and win. But would Wane play an entertaining style and liven up our limp attack, our Achilles heel during this tour? This was a criticism often levelled at him whilst coach at Wigan.
There are some big decisions to make at RFL HQ if England are to have a chance of winning the 2021 World Cup...
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