A bus and a buzz - Williams on spreading Ashes word
Being in Wane's world
We had a meeting as an England group at a hotel near Manchester recently. I really enjoy the England camps. Any time we can get together is good. There were a couple of new faces in there as well, a reward for players that are doing well.It's nice to meet the new lads but also to catch up with the connections you've made over the past few years - I've got some good friends from other teams that you don't see too often unless you play against them.The main purpose of the meeting was for Shaun to get his message across to us all, and point out a few things. It was very Shaun Wane-esque in that mind, the way he delivered it.Weirdly, I'm used to it because I've had him as a coach for a very long time, from my Wigan days and now as England coach. He even says in the meetings that a lot of us will have heard this before - but he knows what he wants from his players.He doesn't go away from that. He knows what works. He's been very successful for a reason. So there were some home truths. Some of the lads already know what they need to do better but it's not nice to see it there in the room; people missing tackles or doing things he doesn't value within a team.
It's not personal. He's not having a go at the individual. It's the bigger picture. He is showing us what is not acceptable - and if we continue to do those things, we won't be in the team.It's a tough school. To represent England, you've got to be at your best and that goes for all of us. Whether you're first time in or one of the seniors, there are certain standards you have to reach and he won't go away from them, so everyone knows what he expects.There are no grey areas. Sometimes you won't like what he's saying but you know where you stand.I definitely value it. It's something I took away from playing for Shaun - driving up standards.
Origin a good barometer for Ashes test
From the Australia side there has been a few things mentioned about what they will do now Mal Meninga has stepped down, but we saw what they could be capable of in State of Origin.I always watch Origin. It's a massive part of the game down in Australia. And a lot of those players will transfer to the Australia team.As much as I do enjoy watching it, it's a little bit of homework as well.I'm sure they'll find someone to fill the coach role. They're the best - and have been a long time - so we're expecting the best of them.They're the number one and we're looking forward to challenging ourselves against them. We're looking to win - there's no doubt about it.
'Opportunities I have to listen to'
Right now there's a lot of negotiating going on and logistics surrounding my future beyond 2025, so I'm leaving it up to my agent.I've had some great, respectful conversations with Warrington - everything's above board and there are no bad feelings between anyone involved.I'd be stupid not to listen to a great opportunity from the Australian NRL and I think the club understand that. I've stressed to them it's not the case that I hate it here and I'm wanting out - but some things arise in life and I'd hate to have any regrets.We'll have some good, honest conversations and see what will happen.
Get in the 'six', anyone's game
We've won three in a row at Warrington now and given ourselves a chance to get back into the Super League's top six.The win over Catalans down in Perpignan was a tough one, and the weather was mad. First of all we were happy to get in and out of there with a win, but it was 30C and cracking the flags on the Thursday and Friday we were there - and then come game day on the Saturday, it decided to have a storm for five or six hours. It wasn't ideal.It was hot, muggy and the ball was slippy as anything. We didn't play well either, but I'd rather play rubbish and win than play well and lose.We've had a rollercoaster of a year. We've lacked consistency but now we've a great chance to keep our season alive. Get in the six, and it's anybody's game.If we beat Castleford at the weekend, it's four from four. We have to go into work with a smile on our face and work hard. Feeling sad won't do anything. We want to be better.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
18 minutes ago
- The Independent
Can Melbourne learn to love the Wallabies? Inside Australian rugby union's fight for eyeballs in AFL heartland
The British and Irish Lions are training this week at a plush private school in the Melbourne suburb of Kew, the boarding boys returning to their dorms after the holidays to find strange company on the campus. Not that many will be aware of the significance of their visitors. 'Most won't even know the difference between rugby union and league,' a schoolmaster says. Where plenty will harbour ambitions of making it to the AFL, with a long list of past Premiership winners to inspire them, notable rugby alumni do not instantly spring to mind. 'I think Stirling Mortlock might have gone here,' the member of staff erroneously suggests of a Sydney-sider. Welcome, then, to Melbourne, a place where rugby union sits someway down the public's pecking order. This is a wonderful city, particularly for sports fans, with the thicket of arenas within which the Melbourne Cricket Ground is the tallest tree a short walk away from the CBD. It is in that sporting copse that the Australian Open is held each January, while one can quickly find your way to Flemington Racecourse or Albert Park if horsepower is more your thing. But even with the Lions in town, Melburnians are seeming to shrug. The second Test promises to be quite the occasion with close to 90,000 fans expected at the MCG but there is an acceptance among residents that many, if not most, of those will be wearing Lions red. A local reporter this week pressed Wallabies Rob Valetini and James Slipper on how it would feel to be playing in front of a 'one-sided' away crowd on home soil – and was not met with much opposition. 'One thing I do know is there's a lot of love for rugby in Australia,' Slipper, playing his second Lions series, says. 'On the potential of having a one-sided stadium because it's an AFL stadium – they're still Australian, so they'll be there. I know they'll be there. 'It's one thing about this country, regardless of the sport, they'll get behind the national colours. The landscape in Australia is quite clouded. There's a lot of sports, a lot of opportunities for kids to play different sports, and that's great itself. 'But for us, we want to be a team that not just invites, but motivates kids to play rugby. That's the key for us. We want to be a team that kids enjoy watching, fans enjoy watching, and then hopefully the game grows from there.' It is a shame, in some ways, that Melbourne has lost its Super Rugby Pacific franchise, but it had been coming. The Rebels had always felt a slightly peculiar venture since their entry in 2011, spreading a dwindling pool of talent in the nation thinner and making some questionable investments. Between 2011 and 2020, they did not finish higher than 9th on the ladder and failed to make the play-offs once. In fact, their only ever knockout game was their last – a 47-20 thrashing by the Hurricanes in last year's quarter-final. Having earned a surprise stay of execution when the Western Force was folded in 2017, news seven years later of the Rebels' demise did not exactly come as a shock. A financial analysis suggested that the team lost AU$54m (£26m) during their time in existence; they were far from the only rugby team in the world to be run unsustainably but it was little surprise that Rugby Australia (RA) did not fight too hard to save them. The lack, however, of an elite side in a city that contains nearly 30 professional sporting outfits, including nine AFL teams, has cut off a development pathway. Melbourne may not be a rugby union hotbed but talent has always come through – Rob Valetini has become one of Australia's best and Sione Tuipulotu, now in Lions red, probably should have done, too. 'I played with Sione pretty much through all my grades growing up,' Melbourne-born Valetini, who was inspired as much by the Fijian sevens stars as any Australian rugby heroes, explains. 'He was always class. He was probably the guy you sort of wanted to be growing up in Melbourne. It was always a goal to play for the Rebels as well and I think he did that. I was pretty shocked that he had to leave. 'Rugby sits quite low in the ecosystem, but that never really distracted me from anything. I knew what I wanted to do and I've always loved rugby when I was younger. I've always had the love for union and it didn't distract me from anything.' Perhaps, though, the loss of the Rebels has created an opportunity for the future. The Lions had been due to face the Super Rugby side between Tests one and two on this tour, but their disbandment forced a re-think and the assembly of the First Nations & Pasifika XV that player with such pride and passion at Marvel Stadium on Tuesday night. It had been a week to remember for all involved as the many communities that have enriched Australian rugby for generations came together to celebrate their heritage – with Rob Leota, a former Rebels stalwart and captain, a fitting try-scorer in the final few minutes. If rugby union is to grow in Australia, continuing to access as broad a range of populations as possible will surely be key. 'I am thinking bigger picture here. I think for the next generation, for the young Pasifika First Nations kids in Australia, this jersey, this emblem, represents them,' captain Kurtley Beale, born and raised in Dharug country but only the 14th Indigenous man to play for the Wallabies, emphasises. 'If you look at the Wallabies now and in the past, there has been a lot of Pasifika & First Nations representation at that level, and to be able to bring talent through and create pathways for those kids is what it is all about. As a squad, we are very proud to be able to do that at this level. It's giving these kids opportunities. This is a fantastic concept and it needs to continue.'
Sky News
20 minutes ago
- Sky News
The comeback queens - these Lionesses never give in
When all seems lost, these Lionesses find a way to rescue it. The comebacks queens, always coming back for more. And now into a third consecutive final with a chance to defend their European crown. But even Sarina Wiegman feared they would be flying home today when the clock hit 88 minutes in the semi-final with Italy and they were still trailing 1-0. Just why had the defence been picked apart too easily again in the first half to concede to give Barbara Bonansea the space and time to score? Just why were Alessia Russo and Lauren Hemp, in particular, not clinical enough? 0:25 Maybe that is a recipe for success rather than a desperate rescue mission. Because when Wiegman saw there would be seven minutes of stoppage time, suddenly there was hope again. Especially as five minutes earlier, the manager had brought on Michelle Agyemang. It's a lot to rely on a 19-year-old. But this is a striker who scored 41 seconds into her international debut as a substitute in April. And she scored the equaliser that sent the quarterfinal into extra time last week before England beat Sweden on penalties. Now the weight of the nation was on her shoulders again - and she delivered in the sixth of the seven minutes of injury time. "She has something special," Wiegman said. "She's very mature, she knows exactly what she has to do. "When you talk about little things that she picks up straight away, because she's not only in the 18-yard box very dangerous but when we have to go to her as a target player, she keeps the ball really well too." The Arsenal forward even hit the crossbar in extra time before the Wembley winner from the final three years ago showed again why she's a super-sub. Just when it seemed England would need to win another shootout, Beth Mead was brought down and now they had one penalty to win it. Chloe Kelly was denied but alert to pounce on the rebound. And with a 2-1 win, England will go the distance for a third tournament in a row. No England team has ever previously enjoyed such a deep run. For Kelly it will be a second final of the year after winning the Champions League with Arsenal. But it is a year that began despondent at Manchester City before securing a move to the Gunners. "The moments when in January I felt like giving up football makes you so grateful for these moments here today, and this makes you enjoy every minute of that," Kelly said. "I think confidence comes from within, but from around you as well. The players that we stand side by side with on the pitch, give confidence in each other." And England will certainly feel confident. These Lionesses never give in. How many teams would want to bottle up that fighting spirit and resilience? "When it finishes like this I am enjoying it but it's a little bit dramatic," said Wiegman, who has now reached an unprecedented five tournament finals with the Netherlands and England.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
The super-rich have done what protesters never could: taken over the US embassy in London
Until seven years ago, one of the key centres of American power in Europe was a few minutes' walk from the consumer frenzy of Oxford Street in London. Reassuring or enraging, depending on your view of American hegemony, for more than half a century the enormous US embassy, by far the largest in the capital, provided diplomatic, immigration and intelligence services – and an irresistible target for protesters. Its strikingly skeletal grey building on Grosvenor Square, which opened in 1960, became steadily more surrounded by fences, concrete blocks, bollards and other defences: signs of the increasing effort required to maintain the US's worldwide ascendancy. So it's strange to visit the square and find that all the defences have gone. You can walk right up to the building, as protesters never managed to in large numbers, on to pavements once menacingly guarded by the embassy's detachment of US marines, and peer through the rows of windows at an interior eerily transformed. Like the exterior, it has been almost entirely dismantled and then reconstructed over several years, its grey bones warmed and softened with a lavish new colour scheme based on gold. The signal being sent to visitors and passersby is not subtle. The building's new role is to serve those around whose needs and wishes the centres of London and other prestigious cities are increasingly being reshaped: the 1%. Staying at the Chancery Rosewood, as the former embassy is now known, will cost between £1,520 and £24,102 a night – the latter half the annual median salary in London – when the hotel's first guests arrive on 1 September. Among other amenities, they will have an 'immersive wellness area', 'courtesy Bentley cars' and a 'curated art exhibition with art concierge'. The combination of material ostentation, health micromanagement and exclusive cultural opportunities required by the very wealthy these days will be provided by a formerly American hospitality chain, now owned by a conglomerate based in Hong Kong. The building itself is owned by Qatar's sovereign wealth fund. As so often in Britain, the ambition of some non-western countries to reverse their relationship with the old imperial powers is hiding in plain sight. Enclaves for ultra-wealthy guests are proliferating across a widening swathe of central London. Some of these hotels, such as Raffles London at the OWO (Old War Office) and the Waldorf Astoria London Admiralty Arch, follow a similar formula to the Chancery. Famous, well-located properties sold off by the state – the Old War Office and Admiralty Arch disposed of during the deep spending cuts by David Cameron's government – are having their history and faded grandeur commodified into something glitzier. By its final years, parts of the Grosvenor Square embassy were actually quite shabby, with worn carpets and frayed office furniture. Maintaining large government premises in expensive city-centre locations, exposed to protests or potential terrorist attack, can ultimately become unappealing for the state, not least because its revenues are limited by the reluctance of many of the 1% to pay their taxes. So the London boom in luxurious office-to-hotel conversions may have been partly prompted, in an indirect way, by the self-interest of some of those who now stay in them. As so often in the 21st century, the behaviour of the 1% feels impervious to satire or condemnation. Fifty-seven years ago, at the height of protests against the Vietnam war, Grosvenor Square filled with demonstrators, among them the leading activist Tariq Ali. In his memoir of the 1960s, Street Fighting Years, he recalls that he and his more excitable comrades 'dreamed' of forcing their way into the building, and 'using the embassy telex to cable the US embassy in Saigon and inform them that pro-Vietcong forces had seized the premises in Grosvenor Square'. Only mounted police charges and mass arrests saved the London embassy from invasion. Yet now luxury capitalism has managed to do what protesters could not, and take over the building from the spooks and diplomats. With Donald Trump transparently running the US for the benefit of the rich, it feels fitting that the building has become a place for them, rather than Americans in general. The hotel will be open just in time for his September state visit. Perhaps some of his wealthier supporters will take the opportunity to stay. For any guest who worries about the potential provocation of yet another elite hotel, operating at a traditional protest site, in a country in which most people are struggling with a seemingly endless cost of living crisis, the Chancery does have some discreet security. Cameras cover the hotel's perimeter, and guards circle the building after dark. Meanwhile a couple of miles to the south, in a new London landscape of residential towers and windswept roads at Nine Elms, the successor to the Grosvenor Square embassy stands in the middle of its own, far more extensive security zone, including a partial moat and a defensive wall disguised as a waterfall. The huge pale cube of the current US embassy dominates its neighbourhood even more than its predecessor did. It's also much further away from the usual routes of London political marches. Some protesters have already adjusted. Thousands of people supporting Palestine walked to the embassy in February, to show their fury at Trump's backing for Israel. The symbolic contrast between their defiant flags and flimsy placards and the fortress-like building did not work in the US's favour. The Grosvenor Square embassy may be gone, but the business of challenging the US goes on. Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist
