Saturday\u2019s 30-8 loss to Australia in the third and final Ashes Test<\/a> could be the last time they play before next year\u2019s tournament begins.<\/p>\nOne man who is expected to light up that World Cup, as he did the Ashes, is Australia\u2019s number six Cam Munster with the Melbourne Storm star named as the Player of the Series. Speaking post-match on BBC, Munster heaped praise on rugby league in England and explained how the final score was harsh, with Australia scoring three tries in the final 18 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think the scoreline is very reflective of the game. We got pretty lucky at times but that\u2019s footy,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just think the atmosphere is so good, and how good is rugby league in England? I\u2019m very fortunate to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also called for more growth, adding: \u201cI know NRL is talking to Super League, and hopefully we can build that bridge and bring some Englishmen over to NRL.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know we\u2019ve had some greats come over here like yourself (James Graham) and Sammy (Burgess), and hopefully we can bring some more over because some of these boys over here, they\u2019ve got some class footy in them.\u201d<\/p>\n
England to be \u201cscary\u201d at 2026 World Cup if spine issues are solved, claims Aussie star<\/p>\n
Expanding on that \u201cclass footy\u201d comment, Munster was asked what it was that England had lacked and rather than answer that, he diplomatically chose to explain why Australia had been strong.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been pretty fortunate with our spine, we haven\u2019t really jumbled a whole heap,\u201d the Storm star said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been lucky enough to transition in the last couple of years and when you have a spine coming through, you\u2019ve got to be able to develop those combinations.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou (England) obviously went with (Daryl) Clark and then certain other halves in the game, and then you changed in the game two or three. I think they\u2019ve been playing some really good footy, but it\u2019s just all about that building, and you can\u2019t expect them to be out here and playing like the Harlem Globetrotters.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully next year they\u2019ll build on that in the World Cup, and I reckon that\u2019s going to be a scary England team, just building on those little things with their spine. I think they\u2019ve got the forward pack and they\u2019ve got some really classy outside backs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking specifically on the third Test, he complimented Mikey Lewis who was forced out of position after AJ Brimson\u2019s injury.<\/p>\n
Munster said: \u201cIt\u2019s pretty disappointing for AJ Brimson to get injured, and he put a halfback at fullback. I thought he was really good tonight, compared to being out in the halves. I just think that those little things you can do with the spine, they\u2019re going to go a long way.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they play like that over here, it could have been a different story. If they\u2019re used to that kind of ball and play, there\u2019s some really skillful players in that England team and very dangerous with the ball at hand. We\u2019re very accustomed to it in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Could NRL play a Magic Round in England?<\/p>\n
Munster was also happy to admit that the Kangaroos had benefited in the second and third Tests due to the fact that Australian Grant Atkins was appointed as the referee, with Super League official Liam Moore allowing a very slow ruck in the first Test at Wembley.<\/p>\n
He even suggested that if Super League were to adopt a similar style of officiating, England would benefit in the future as he explained: \u201cWe\u2019ve been very fortunate to have the Aussie ref for the last two games. We\u2019re used to be able to get into a flow where England and Super League don\u2019t really have that at the moment. If they get that in the competition, I think there\u2019s going to be some scary players coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for how to ensure this Ashes series isn\u2019t a flash in the pan, he called for NRL to take a Magic Round to England, which Super League fans would love given the fact their own Magic Round is in danger of being cut.<\/p>\n
The Kangaroos star said: \u201cI know the international game of rugby union is massive, but they need to come over here more. We need to build the game over here.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe obviously do it in Las Vegas, but it\u2019d be pretty cool if we could have a magic round in England too. Fingers crossed we can do something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Serious About Rugby League has launched a brand new podcast which can be watched in full on our YouTube channel here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761234489_461_srl-logo.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Rugby League Ashes\u2019 Player of the Series has had his say on England\u2019s performance, including what went…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-252459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252459","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=252459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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