BY JOHN DAVIDSON
Former Great Britain captain Garry Schofield believes coach Shaun Wane’s job is on the line if England are battered in the second Ashes Test.
England were dominated by a rusty Australian team 26-6 in the Ashes opener at Wembley. The series moves to Liverpool this weekend, with England needing victory to keep the Ashes contest alive.
Pressure is mounting on the hosts after a poor first Test performance, with bookmakers putting the Kangaroos at 1/12 favourites and England outsiders at 6/1.
Wane has an 82% win rate as England boss, but his team were knocked out of the 2022 World Cup at the semi-final stage and suffered losses to the Combined Nations All Stars and now Australia. Schofield feels Wane’s position is under threat if they go down 2-0 in the Ashes.
“Wane’s job’s on the line,” he told rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads.
“Everybody was questioning his squad selection anyway, and then secondly, everybody’s questioning his style of play. Then thirdly, everybody’s questioning his team selection when he’s picking the 17.
“So everybody’s putting questions to him before a ball has been kicked but he hasn’t helped himself by leaving out Jake Connor.
“Connor should have been in there, Minchella should have been in there, Dean Hadley should have been there, James Batchelor should have been there, because they’re all form players.
“Also, the style of play – Waney will not change his style of play. He keeps saying we’re matching Australia for aggression – well, you’re not going to beat Australia on aggression.
“You don’t win Test matches on aggression. You come up with smart team play, you come up with better creativity.
“The way that Waney’s gone about this, he’s put himself under massive pressure before a ball was kicked.”
The Kangaroos ran in four tries in London, but managed only 66% completed sets, compared to 72% for England.
“The worrying factor is Australia didn’t even get out of first gear,” Schofield admitted.
“And they lost the best loose forward in the world after what, seven or eight minutes, so it could have been massively different if Isaah Yeo had stayed on. If we had competed and put Australia under pressure, asked questions in both attack and defence…
“Look, we all know what’s going to happen on Saturday, England are going to get flogged…This could quite easily be a 30-point buffer, quite easily.”
England is expected to make changes for the second Test, with AJ Brimson and Harry Smith coming into contention, as well as the likes of Mikołaj Olędzki.
Schofield, a member of the British Rugby League Hall of Fame, believes Welsby should be dropped for Brimson.
“The way Jack Welsby played in the first Test, and indeed this season, he was lucky to be picked,” he said.
“Brimson’s made himself available, he’s quick, he’s been picked for a reason. But if Australia were looking for a fullback, he might be eighth or ninth choice.
“But he’s made himself available. Welsby is totally out of form, his confidence is shot. He was poor in the first Test, so Brimson’s been selected for the squad, so you’ve got to pick him.
“Jack Welsby’s made his own downfall. If Jack Welsby had played well in that first Test then he would have kept his place, but he didn’t and Brimson deserves his opportunity.”