Ex-NRL and Super League star backs ‘trickier’ England to ‘sneak up’ on Australia in Ashes series

Former Super League and NRL star Justin Horo believes England could ‘sneak up’ on Australia during the Ashes series, calling for the hosts to be treated with more respect.

His comments come as a response to former Australian international Aaron Woods slamming England’s chances for the upcoming three-Test series, suggesting Samoa or Tonga would stand a better chance this autumn.

It also follows his previous suggestion that England will be ‘red-hot’ across the series, which gets underway at Wembley Stadium this weekend.

‘This England team are going to sneak up on the Aussies’

While England might be the hosts this time round, Australia come into it as heavy favourites. Kangaroos head coach Kevin Walters has named a squad littered with NRL superstars for the tour, including Reece Walsh, Nathan Cleary, Cameron Munster and Isaah Yeo. Australia also hold the better record over their rivals to the north, winning the past 13 Ashes series. England or Great Britain have also failed to beat their Aussie counterparts since 2006.

But, despite this, Horo feels England shouldn’t be written off too quickly.

“I’m telling you, they don’t need one individual, he said on the Levels podcast. “You’re down here in Aussie world and not watching Super League, this England team are going to sneak up on the Aussies.

“Our man Woodsy (Aaron Woods) came out and made some strong comments. He’s not giving this English team enough respect. They rewatched the video (of England head coach Shaun Wane) that me and Grub (Ben Reynolds) watched, and he dismissed it. He’s got a history of this, where he fired up Queensland.

“This England team are going to be trickier than he thinks. He also said in the clip he would be more worried about Samoa and Tonga, they played there (in England) in the last two years, 3-0 against Tonga and 2-0 against Samoa last year.

“This English team over there, he hasn’t been paying attention to the Super League. This team in England are going to be harder.”

Co-host Willie Mason, who represented Australia in an Ashes series, also feels this will be a much harder test for the Kangaroos than some might predict.

“When they’re playing for the Ashes and they’re playing for England, they go up a different level, he said.

“This is going to be a whole different level of footie.

“We won’t be expecting it too. We haven’t played over there, we haven’t played football in a three-match tournament to get that. The first 20 minutes will be so intense.

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