England boss Shaun Wane highlights improvement areas for final Test - 'We need to be better'
England coach Shaun Wane insisted ‘we need to be better’ if they are to avoid an Ashes series whitewash against Australia, highlighting areas of improvement ahead of the third and final Test in Leeds.
Australia clinched the Ashes series with a game to spare thanks to a 14-4 win over England at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday, adding to their 26-6 win in the opening Test at Wembley, meaning Kevin Walters’ side has retained the Ashes with a game to spare.
It was a much-improved display from England in the second Test, but it still wasn’t enough as the Kangaroos’ defence held firm once again.
Speaking after the game, Wane highlighted areas of improvement for his side as they aim to avoid a series whitewash in the third and final Test at AMT Headingley in Leeds on Saturday.
"I wanted to see more thrown at them – they defended really well,” said Wane.
“There were periods in that first half where we had a lot of ball, but the main thing was I wanted us to build pressure in the game – we didn’t do that last week – and I felt we did that this week, but just a bit of detail in our attack where we could have put them under a bit more pressure."
Meanwhile, Australia went down to 12 men in the second half when superstar fullback Reece Walsh was sin-binned, a period when Wane wanted to see his side capitalise on that by posting some points.
"There are ways we can attack a lot better when that happens, but we didn’t do that, and that upset me,” Wane added.
"We could have done that a lot better without getting too technical. Tighter field positions, we didn’t take advantage of that – there are a few areas where we can improve, even when we were competing and really testing them, there were a few areas that I thought we could have done better with the detail of our attack."
England were notably going down the short side in the second half against the Kangaroos at Everton, something which Wane was asked about in his post-match press conference.
"Rugby league is a numbers game,” Wane explained. “If their numbers aren’t correct on a short side, then you need to take advantage of it, especially at the international level, and there are times when we could have played a bit more on the big side, but the message was to nail the numbers on the short side and that gives you chances on the big side.
"There are areas of what we can improve, and I’m sure the coach of Australia will say the same, but at the end of the day, we got beaten, we completed higher than them, and we had more penalties than them, so there is no excuse. We need to be better, and it’s absolutely gutted me.”
England will aim to avoid a series whitewash when they host the touring Kangaroos in the final Test at AMT Headingley on Saturday afternoon, 2:30pm kick-off. Tickets sold out months in advance, but it will be available to watch live on BBC One.