England head coach Shaun Wane has passionately refuted claims from Kangaroos counterpart Kevin Walters that the RFL booked his squad the ‘worst possible flights’ over.
Last week, during an appearance on the ‘Inside Ball’ podcast, Walters took aim, saying: “The RFL (Rugby Football League), in their kindness, have given us the worst flight possible to be flying to England if you’re a sports team.
“We have hired, without giving away too much information, a sleep specialist, who specialises in overseas travel and sporting teams and making sure they get the best available preparation.
“You’ve got to adjust quickly. Before we go it’ll start. Little things like sleeping tablets and trying to adjust to arriving. We arrive in London at 8:15pm. We don’t want them going to sleep at 8pm because they’ll be awake at 4am.”
But, Wane has rubbished those claims, and insists Australian officials were the ones that selected those flights, with the fire between the two nations already burning.
Shaun Wane hits back at Australia coach’s flight jibe with 56-word response
With his 24-man squad announced at midday, England boss Wane spoke to the media at their training base on Monday afternoon.
Hitting back at those claims from Walters with a smile on his face, he said: “I know that they (Australia) booked the flights.
“I know that, so it just blows what he said out the water.
“They booked their own flights, I’ve been reliably told that.”
Whoever booked the flights, the Kangaroos will be in business class as they make the journey to London later this week, landing at 8.15pm local time.
The first of the three Tests comes at Wembley on October 25, with the second at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium on November 1 and the last one at Headingley on November 8.
Wane added: “At the end of the day, they’re in business, they’ll lie down and sleep.
“They’ll be good when they get over here, but so will we.”