BY JOHN DAVIDSON
Former Great Britain international Des Foy has urged England to throw off their shackles and unleash their attack in the second Ashes Test.
England went down 26-6 at Wembley against the Kangaroos in the first Test, barely firing a shot in the series opener,
Foy believes the hosts must add some variety and risk to their offense, as the Ashes heads to Liverpool.
“England haven’t the forwards to break Australia around the middle, their best attacks came on the edges, with George Williams and short passes,” he told rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads.
“If the centres had dummied and stuck, Reece Walsh would have looked a bit foolish, and England might have had two tries.
There have been calls for AJ Brimson to be called into the starting side, and for Jack Welsby to be benched, after England’s disappointing Ashes loss.
“Australia had at least 20 points in them even on a bad day – they’ve probably got 60+ on a good day,” Foy, who played for the Lions, Widnes and Oldham in the 1980s and 90s, admitted.
“England won’t ever nil ’em. So, the only way is to score more than they do. Improving how you end your sets, having slightly better ball security, won’t make much of a difference.
“Creating line breaks and finishing them off is the only answer.
“But you have to make the decision to take the risky offloads, run it on the last etc, but if you are just looking to end your set with a better kick, you stop being a threat on the later tackles in the set.
“It’s risk and reward. I think Shaun Wane makes his players risk-averse.”