{"id":215996,"date":"2025-10-21T18:08:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T18:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/215996\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T18:08:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T18:08:07","slug":"rugby-league-ashes-england-aim-to-avoid-late-loss-curse-at-wembley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/215996\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby League Ashes: England aim to avoid late loss curse at Wembley"},"content":{"rendered":"

England’s failure to join Australia in the World Cup final in 2022 ago means this is their first meeting for eight years.<\/p>\n

That was in the 2017 World Cup final, which they lost 6-0 to the Kangaroos in Brisbane<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They have not faced Australia on home soil since a 36-18 loss at London Stadium<\/a> in November 2016, with the planned Ashes series in 2020 cancelled amid the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

Five years later, this long-awaited series has arrived, and the current generation can experience one of the most hotly contested tests in rugby league.<\/p>\n

“Last time there was an Ashes I was eight – I know I look older but I’m only 30,” said Australian captain Isaah Yeo.<\/p>\n

“You look back on how passionate the players were, the way former players speak about the tours and how much it meant to them, 30 or 40 years ago.<\/p>\n

“You want the Australia squad of 2025 to look back on it in 30 years’ time and think about how wonderful it was to be an Australian player.”<\/p>\n

Australia are the reigning world champions, the number one ranked international side and heavy favourites for the Ashes.<\/p>\n

But their preparations have not been totally smooth, with coach Mal Meninga stepping down in June to take over at National Rugby League side Perth Bears.<\/p>\n

Kevin Walters has stepped into the role<\/a> for this series and denied that it is any sort of experiment regarding who should lead Australia at their home World Cup in 2026.<\/p>\n

“It’s not so much an audition for the World Cup, as it is prime time,” he said. “When I got the job, I rang a few of the players because there is noise around Australia about international rugby and where it sits on the calendar. They were very excited by it all.<\/p>\n

“We have really skipped a generation of English and Australian players in these sorts of games and series; it could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance for these players and staff. It is a unique experience, and if you are in the world of rugby league, this is where you want to be.<\/p>\n

“For me, the last few months have been about making connections with the players and staff. On a three-week tour, we need to come together quickly. We have great players, but if we are not as one, it could be not so good for us. My job is to get the players connected and focused.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England’s failure to join Australia in the World Cup final in 2022 ago means this is their first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-215996","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}