England aim to contain 'special' Australia superstar Reece Walsh in second Test
England coach Shaun Wane believes his side must sharpen up defensively and improve their execution with the ball if they are to keep a lid on Australia superstar Reece Walsh in Saturday’s second Ashes Test.
Walsh was at his electric best on his Australia debut in their 26-6 win over England in the opening Test of the Ashes series at Wembley last weekend, putting on a show with his lethal footwork, whilst producing key defensive plays to deny England tries.
The Kangaroos’ fullback drew plaudits on both sides of the globe, and plenty of respect from Wane, who insists his side has got to be better at nullifying Walsh’s key strengths.
"Yeah, but we did that in the first Test as well, and that didn’t go well, so we need to be better at that,” Wane said when asked about England’s plan to keep Walsh quiet.
"He’s a class player, there’s no doubt about that – they’ve got lots of class players in their team, but he’s special. The way he stopped our tries, he took a complete risk, but our execution has to be better.
"You don’t get many chances to score tries in international rugby and we missed a few, so all credit to him, he put himself in a position which stopped us scoring.”
Meanwhile, England and Wigan Warriors centre Jake Wardle shares the same opinion as Wane – the English hosts need to nullify Walsh’s threats.
"He’s obviously a very good player,” said Wardle. “It’s one of them... I think we need to take as much time away from him as we can.
“He is very quick and very athletic, and we saw what he can do in open space a couple of times, so we need to take as much time away from him as we can.”
England need to win at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday if they are to have any hope of claiming a series victory – but Wane insists his side must be better than they were at Wembley last week.
"We had a chat in the changing rooms (at Wembley), and that was heartbreaking that one,” Wane reflected.
"We were all hurting from that, and it was a bit raw. We got back to the hotel, we came straight back after the game – it was a shocking journey.
"Then, we did the review of the game on Sunday morning, so that was a long day on Sunday, hence the reason why they’ve had some time off. The players are brutally honest, and we are as staff, and we all need to be better against an unbelievably good Australia.”