Rugby league-Ashes whitewash gives England major World Cup headache

After a 22-year wait for a rugby league Ashes series, England fans had hoped home advantage would give them a fighting chance of challenging their Australian counterparts. Instead, a series whitewash only highlighted the gap between the old foes.

A first successive Ashes series whitewash since 1986 was sealed with a comprehensive 30-8 Australian victory in the final test at Headingley on Saturday, another occasion when England were vastly inferior. England supporters sang "you're getting sacked in the morning" in the direction of coach Shaun Wane as the match wore on, with a World Cup to come next year.

"I don't believe, I know I am (the right man to lead England into the Rugby League World Cup)," Wane told reporters. "The only people who I want on my side are 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. So we have to and must be better for the World Cup next year." NIGHT AND DAY

Domestic rugby league in Australia and England is as different as night and day. The National Rugby League is one of the most watched sports Down Under, with record revenues and TV audiences in Australia. The English Super League plays second fiddle to other sports, with interest regionalised. Central money each Super League club receives has decreased over recent years with the competition's TV deal falling from 40 million to around 21 million this year.

The gap in salary caps between the leagues – the NRL's is almost three times bigger – further explains how England struggled to even compete with Australia during this first Ashes series since 2003. The Super League schedule remains packed with plans to extend the number of teams next year. As a result, there is little space for international tests.

England's last fixture took place in November 2024 and there are no international matches scheduled before now and next year's World Cup, taking place in Australia and Papua New Guinea, leaving Wane, if he stays in the job, with an unenviable task of preparing a team for the showpiece tournament. "When you look at how condensed the Super League season is, we struggled to even get the players in for a video session,” Wane said. "The Australian players will play much less club games. These boys get very little break.

"To go into this series with such little preparation as a team it has been tough. I need to have a conversation in the next few weeks about the direction we are going and I will make my recommendations to give ourselves a chance of getting these players prepared for a World Cup. "They (NRL players) are playing State of Origin games, they are playing finals, less games but very intense ones. We play many more domestic games, but less intense ones."