Wane ready to ring changes as England look to level Ashes series

England head coach Shaun Wane is ready to ring the changes for the second Test against Australia on Saturday at Everton's Hill-Dickinson Stadium as he looks to keep the series alive.

England suffered a dismal 26-6 defeat to the Kangaroos at Wembley in the opening Test of the series and first of its kind since 2003, the star-studded Australia side overpowering the home outfit in front of a 60,000-strong crowd.

While defeat wasn't necessarily a shock, the manner of it for many was, England crumbling in the second half as the likes of Reece Walsh and Angus Crichton ran riot.

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It left Wane's side with a lot of thinking to do and the England head coach admitted he will be looking at making changes to his 17 for the second Test.

"A few [changes]. I'm going to see the coaches again, we had a meeting this morning [Tuesday] and another this afternoon," Wane said.

"We are going to look into what we need to do and make sure the team is a lot more equipped.

"It is not easy trying to find that blend. At the end of the day I want a team to go out on Saturday and I want it to look like a proper Test match. It didn't look like that to me on Saturday.

"This week has to look like a proper Test match and give a better account of ourselves. Whether I make two or four changes, I'm not sure yet."

A change many are calling for is at full-back following Jack Welsby's performance on Saturday, with NRL star AJ Brimson an option in the 24-man squad.

Wane admitted it was an "off day" for Welsby at Wembley and he is being looked after by the group.

"We look after Jack. We're a very close group. He's a champion bloke, no doubt about that," he said.

"He'll be looked after within the team, he's done a lot of good things as well, he just had an off day on Saturday, but a few people did.

"I don't know what criticism there's been, I genuinely don't know, but I know what he's capable of. He's a very strong character and whatever has been said, he'll come back stronger."

Another position that has fans and pundits wondering is half-back and whether Harry Smith will come into the fold this weekend after Wane opted for a pairing of his captain George Williams alongside Mikey Lewis for the opening match.

It marked a change for Wane who had trusted Williams and Smith in series sweeps against Tonga and Samoa and he admits the Wigan Warriors man remains in his thinking.

"He was in my thinking last Saturday. It's a really good 24-man squad, there's lots of players who could have played last week and they're all available for selection this week," Wane added.

Watching it back I feel '12 times worse'

So, just how do England go about making sure the series goes level at 1-1?

For Wane, the learnings from a gut-wrenching review is that England will put themselves under way less pressure from making sure they take every chance that comes their way.

"[Watching it back] about 12 times, worse, definitely. We did some good things, but just not enough," Wane said.

"I don't think it was a real Test match, they were too good, the worthy winners, we didn't really challenge them which is the disappointing thing. They didn't see the best of us and that's down to me. it's something we need to fix this week.

"We need to look at training, what we did. GPS, we spent all weekend studying the detail of what we did and there's a reason the players weren't at their very best. That's our job, the beauty of a series like this is you get to go again and put things right.

"We'll challenge them in more areas and we'll end our sets better hopefully. The knock-on effect of that is huge, we put ourselves under so much pressure."

Rugby League Ashes 2025

First Test: England 6-26 Australia

Second Test: Saturday November 1, Everton Stadium, Liverpool

Third Test: Saturday November 8, Headingley Stadium, Leeds