England head coach Shaun Wane insists he is the right man to lead England into the Rugby League World Cup 2026 despite being on the end of a 3-0 Ashes loss to Australia.
The series whitewash leaves England with questions to answer, the return of the contest for the first time since 2003 turning into a reality check for the home side.
Overall, the pack stood up, the backs could not fire. The system, at times, worked but then left no room for manoeuvre.
England had no points of difference; the Kangaroos had points of difference all across the park – Reece Walsh, Cameron Munster, Harry Grant, Nathan Cleary, and Angus Crichton to name just a few.
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Australia completed the 3-0 series whitewash against England but Shaun Wane sees himself as the man to stay in charge
After a series drubbing like the tourists inflicted on England, it would only be standard practice for the head coach’s role to be scrutinised.
Wane does have a 3-0 series win over Tonga and 2-0 win over Samoa to his name. He also suffered Rugby League World Cup semi-final heartbreak to the latter on home turf.
With another World Cup on the horizon in 2026, the question will now be whether Wane is the man to lead England into that competition on the Green and Gold’s turf.
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Is Wane’s experience, having led the side into one World Cup already, invaluable? Or is this the moment for the national side to take a chance and make a change?
Wane has come out swinging and is adamant that a change at the top would not be the correct call.
“I think we’ve not played well enough for long enough periods against a really good team,” Wane said.
“This is a different challenge against a team that’s going to ask you questions continually for 80 minutes and we couldn’t do it for long enough periods.
“I don’t believe, I know I am (the right man to lead England into the Rugby League World Cup).
“The only people who I want is the players and the staff and I know I’ve got that.
“I’ll do a report on the series and what my thoughts are and sit down with people at the RFL.
“They want to make it better, they don’t like us losing and we’re all going in the same direction. So we have to and must be better for the World Cup next year.”
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England scored just two tries across the three matches but tryscorer George Williams has backed his head coach
Wane also has the backing of his skipper George Williams, who says Wane is “100 per cent” the correct man and should continue in his job.
“100 per cent, no doubt at all. We all believe in him,” Williams said.
“As disappointing as this series has been, what we’ve built has been really good under Shaun and he is definitely the right man.”
Now, it is for the RFL to decide what the correct decision is with less than 12 months to turn things around.
Rugby League Ashes 2025
First Test: England 6-26 Australia
Second Test: England 4-14 Australia
Third Test: England 8-30 Australia