Shaun Wane’s brutally honest assessment of opening Ashes defeat as loss dissected
England players appear dejected during their defeat to Australia in the opening game of the 2025 Ashes Series
Shaun Wane says he feels worse having watched back Saturday’s defeat to Australia in the opening game of this autumn’s Ashes Series: insisting his England side didn’t do their bit to make it ‘a real Test match’.
England were beaten 26-6 at Wembley by the Kangaroos last weekend, with the tourists’ points coming unanswered.
8-0 to the good at the break, Kevin Walters’ side went on to notch a further 18 points in the second half: with the hosts’ only response coming through Daryl Clark four minutes from time, nothing but a consolation.
Wane and his squad must now win the second Test at Everton FC’s Hill Dickinson Stadium this weekend to stand any chance of winning the series, and there is plenty of work to be done between now and Saturday.
Shaun Wane’s brutally honest assessment of opening Ashes defeat as loss dissected
The head coach met with the media at England‘s base in Manchester on Monday afternoon and laid bare his feelings on the opening Test having had the opportunity to process it.
He said: “(I’ve watched it back) about 12 times and I definitely feel worse.
“We did some good things, but just not enough, and I don’t think it was a real Test match.
“They were too good, they were worthy winners and we really didn’t challenge them, which is the most disappointing thing.
“They didn’t see anywhere near the best of us, and that’s down to me. It’s something we have to fix this week.”
England travelled back up north from Wembley immediately after the weekend’s defeat, and went through a review of the opening Test on Sunday morning before camp broke for a few days, with players back on the grass on Wednesday.
Wane continued: “We need to look at training, what we did, the GPS… we spent all weekend studying what we did and there’s a reason the players weren’t at their very best come half two last Saturday.
“The beauty of having a series like this is that you’ve got a chance to go again and put things right.
“We’ll challenge them in more areas, we’ll end our sets better and the knock-on effect from doing that then is huge. We just put ourselves under so much pressure (at Wembley).”
“We’re looking into reasons why (there were nerves).
“We had a lot of experience out there and players felt nervous. We’ve been wanting this series, and it’s had a big build-up in our players’ heads, but hopefully you’ll see a different team this Saturday.”
