We need some Ashes glory in colour, says England’s Wane

England head coach Shaun Wane hopes his 2025 side can finally achieve Test success in glorious technicolour after studying the sepia-tinted tapes of the previous Ashes series victory against Australia.

The late Johnny Whiteley’s Great Britain team, led by Frank Myler, won the final two Tests with a 2-1 victory down under, and you must go back in 1970 to see this kind of television footage.

Wane has quickly turned his attention to creating new history in a well-known old rivalry with the announcement that Mal Meninga’s Kangaroos will face England at the end of the regular season.

According to Wane, “I want to be the coach of the first team to win it for decades,” he said.

“We haven’t won one in a long time; our last victory was in 1970.” Although those games are in black and white, I’ve watched them.

After eight years, England has the opportunity to face off against the world champions by winning the Ashes series this autumn.

The 2017 World Cup final, which Australia won, was the final meeting of that year. The Kangaroos have since won the world title once more, winning it in England in 2022.

Wane continued, describing the opportunity to lead the team as his “coaching highlight,” “The chance to face off against the best in the world is phenomenal.”

Because this wasn’t simple, The RFL and RL Commercial did a fantastic job of getting this done.

It’s so exciting for me to play three Ashes Test matches at fantastic venues. I’ll work hard and ensure that the players are prepared.

Given the facilities on offer and the loyalty shown at previous events, Wane thinks the final game at Headingley will be a “perfect finish,” but he is equally excited about the venues that highlight the ambition shown in marketing this tour.

He continued, “It’s iconic for us,” adding that. I’ve played there, I’ve worked there, I’ve watched games there, and I’ve watched Test matches there.

“I was raised watching matches between Great Britain and Australia and England and Australia.”

England’s struggles against Australia have been difficult to bear, with more work still needed to fix things since that humiliating defeat in 2017.

England had the best chance of competing in that final when Josh Dugan’s ankle-tap on a runaway Kallum Watkins ended the nation’s best chance of winning in dramatic fashion.

Even the “supercoach” Wayne Bennett would become coaches who couldn’t shake the Aussie stranglehold, along with Brian Noble, Mal Reilly, Ellery Hanley, and Eric Ashton.

Wane has a blueprint for aspire to glory, though Wigan and St Helens have recently won the World Club Challenge against NRL opponents and the upper end of the Super League is still strong.

Wane continued, “It is a real test for us.” They have a lot of talented players, they claim. And I’ve watched over the years when we’ve gotten closer to Australia and lost sight of it.

There are some technical differences in how we conduct things that are very different for the NRL players, and that’s going to be our advantage. “You need to go set-for-set like they’re used to in the NRL.