Latest news with #ShaunWane
BBC News
26-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
We need some Ashes glory in colour, says England's Wane
Having studied the sepia-tinged tapes of the last Ashes series win against Australia, England head coach Shaun Wane hopes his 2025 side can end a long wait for Test success in glorious have to go back to 1970 to find such television footage, when the late Johnny Whitley's Great Britain team, led by Frank Myler, won the last two Tests to come out 2-1 winners down the announcement that Mal Meninga's Kangaroos are heading over to face England at the end of the regular season, Wane has quickly turned his focus to writing new history in a famous old rivalry."I'm a very, very competitive person, and I want to be the coach of the first team to win it for decades," Wane told BBC Sport."We've not won one for many, many years - last time we won was 1970. I've watched those games, but they're in black and white."Now we need a colour memory, and this is our chance." 'Chance to face world's best is phenomenal' Securing the Ashes series this autumn gives England the chance to test their mettle against the world champions, after an eight-year last meeting was in the 2017 World Cup final, which Australia won. Since then, the Kangaroos have won the world crown again, doing so in England in 2022."The chance to go up against the best in the world is phenomenal," Wane added, describing the chance to lead the team out as his "coaching highlight". "The RFL and RL Commercial have done a great job to get this on because it's not been straightforward."To get three Ashes Test matches at fantastic grounds is so exciting for me. I'm going to make sure I work hard and make sure the players are prepared."Wane believes the final game at rugby league hotbed Headingley will be a "perfect finish" given the facilities on offer and the loyalty shown at previous events, but is equally excited by the venues that highlight the ambition shown in marketing this tour."As for Wembley - it's iconic for us," he added. "I've played there, been there as a coach, watched games, watched Test matches there."I was brought up with Great Britain versus Australia and England versus Australia matches."Everton is a brand new ground. I've seen the views of it, it looks fantastic and I'm excited for that. Now it's secured as a venue I'll be taking an even closer look." 'Stay in grind, with English style' - Wane plots success England's struggles against Australia have been hard to bear - with a long wait to try to put things right since that 2017 Dugan's ankle-tap on a runaway Kallum Watkins - to deny a try-scoring chance in dramatic fashion - ended England's best chance of challenging in that final, and the memory remains meant even the 'supercoach' Wayne Bennett would join Brian Noble, Mal Reilly, Ellery Hanley and Eric Ashton as coaches unable to break the Aussie with Wigan and St Helens enjoying recent World Club Challenge success against NRL opposition, and the upper end of Super League looking strong, Wane has a blueprint with which to seek glory."It is a real Test for us," Wane added. "They've got so many good players. And I've watched over the years when we've got close to Australia and lost in the last few minutes - it's heartbreaking."You need to go set-for-set like they're used to in the NRL - and if we can do that, there are a few technicalities in how we do things that are very different for the NRL players and that's going to be our advantage."If we can match them in the grind of international sport with a little bit of difference in English style, hopefully we can challenge them."
The Guardian
26-03-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Rugby League Ashes: Australia's tour to feature Test at Everton's new stadium
Australia will tour England in the Rugby League Ashes for the first time since 2003 this autumn, with Everton's new stadium to stage one of the three Tests. The Kangaroos will take on Shaun Wane's side in three matches at Wembley, Bramley-Moore Dock and Headingley on 25 October, 1 November and 8 November, respectively. England have not faced Australia since the 2017 World Cup final, which the Kangaroos won 6-0, with Samoa shocking the hosts in the semi-finals in 2022 at the Emirates Stadium. The Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V'landys said: 'We are proud to revive one of the great rugby league traditions with the first Ashes series and Kangaroo tour of England in 22 years. The ARLC believes in the international game and the Commission was behind this historic tour to support the growth of the game in the north. 'Kangaroos tours are an iconic part of rugby league folklore and have always delivered thrilling contests. The current generation of Kangaroos players have never experienced the magic of a Kangaroos tour and I'm delighted that they will have a chance to cement their own legacy alongside the greats of the past.' Sign up to From the Pocket: AFL Weekly Jonathan Horn brings expert analysis on the week's biggest AFL stories after newsletter promotion The news comes amid turmoil at the top of the sport in this country after the former Rugby Football League chief executive Nigel Wood returned to the governing body to lead a strategic review earlier this month.
BBC News
26-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Australia to tour England for first time since 2003
World champions Australia will return to England this autumn for the first Ashes tour since 2003, with all matches shown live on the sides will play Test matches on three successive Saturdays - at Wembley on 25 October, at Everton's new Bramley-Moore Dock stadium on 1 November and then at Headingley on 8 is eight years since the nations last met - in the 2017 World Cup final in Brisbane, with Australia winning failure to beat Samoa in the World Cup semi-final in 2022 meant Shaun Wane's side missed the chance to renew rivalries with the Kangaroos in an Old Trafford the two years since that delayed tournament, England have beaten Tonga 3-0 in a home Test series and then won two Tests against Samoa in announcement is a bright spot for rugby league's governing body, at a time of upheaval and uncertainty around its own governance and board structure. Long wait for Ashes return set to end It will be the first time since 2003 the Kangaroos have travelled to play in an Ashes series - with the previous incarnation a contest between Australia and Great absence of the series on the calendar for so long came as the Great Britain brand was dissolved for the most part in 2006 - barring an ill-fated return in 2019 - and the Tri-Nations, and then Four Nations, competitions came into meant opportunities for England to test themselves against Australia became all the more appetite for the international game in the southern hemisphere also waned amid the rise in prominence of State of Origin as a high-profile representative option for New South Wales and Queensland players - and general dominance of Australia's National Rugby the experience of a World Cup on these shores in 2022 - with the bonding and team growth achieved by spending time away on foreign soil - helped reinstate Australia players' love for the green-and-gold recent Pacific Championships featuring New Zealand, Tonga, Samoa and the Kangaroos have also this is the biggest step made by the Australians, who have committed to a three-Test tour against northern hemisphere opposition at the end of the demanding NRL season. Venue selections reflect expected interest The Tonga and Samoa series were well received and a success for England, but all the games were staged at stadiums with capacities up to 25,000 in rugby league's traditional the expected appetite for Australia's visit has prompted the Rugby Football League and RL Commercial to think bigger - with the 90,000-capacity Wembley and Everton's new ground, which can house more than 50,000 fans, among three host in particular has special affection for supporters as the annual home of the Challenge Cup final - and has staged some mammoth Ashes encounters in the Britain's victory in 1994, inspired by brilliance from Jonathan Davies, and an England win a year later in the World Cup group stages, are fondly remembered by home have also enjoyed success at the famous venue, winning World Cups in 1992 and 1995 under the old 'Twin Towers', and thrashing Fiji on their last visit to the new ground in the 2013 Dock will be new territory for the sport, but Everton's current home Goodison Park staged four Australia matches in the early part of the 20th contrast, Headingley has staged countless Tests, Ashes games and World Cup meetings between the countries, and is now a staple venue for England fixtures.
