Australian enforcer Angus Crichton has claimed that England ‘were trying to take our heads off’ during the Kangaroos 26-6 win in the opening Rugby League Ashes Test on Saturday at Wembley.
Fresh from the Brisbane Broncos’ epic NRL Grand Final victory, Reece Walsh again proved he is the man in form at the moment, touching down for a brace of tries on his international debut, while also spoiling multiple threatening England attacks.
Despite the final scoreline, England matched Australia for both creativity and physicality throughout the match, and had only been 8-0 down at half-time, before the Kangaroos put their foot on the gas pedal in the second half.
However, Sydney Roosters second-row Crichton, who was recalled to play for the Kangaroos after a three-year absence, claimed that England brought the physicality on Saturday.
‘They came with their trademark physicality and were trying to take our heads off early,’ Crichton said.
‘The Poms, backs against the wall, flying off the line, just trying to bash you, I think.’
Angus Crichton (left) has claimed that ‘England tried to take our heads off’ during Saturday’s Rugby League Ashes opener
Despite going head-to-head with Australia in the first half, England would go on to suffer a demoralising 26-6 defeat
Crichton explained that the hosts brought the game to them, adding that ‘they were obviously trying to kill us tonight’
Crichton believes that Saturday’s showdown at Wembley has ignited the fuse for a huge second Test at Everton’s new stadium, The Hill Dickinson Stadium, on November 1.
‘There are a lot of tough men in their team and they obviously were trying to kill us tonight and I’m sure there will be more of that in the next two games,’ he explained.
‘I think I took the second carry of the game and had a cut on my head and a cut on my finger.’
Crichton was then pressed on what caused the cut on his finger, to which he bluntly responded: ‘From them trying to kill us. It’s all good.’
Crichton was a standout during the match, powering his way over to score two second-half tries, while also making 23 tackles during the game.
While the hosts will take heart from how they played in the first half, Australia were simply ruthless in attack.
Despite that, Crichton delivered a critical appraisal of his side’s performance, claiming that Australia were sloppy with the footy.
‘We had a 78 per cent completion rate in the first half which isn’t good enough for Test footy,’ the Roosters star said.
Reece Walsh was the star man, scoring twice during the game and spoiling multiple England attacks
Crichton also got on the scoresheet twice, but beileved that his side were sloppy during the match
‘There’s no excuse – we have to be better. There was an extra second in the ruck where they were pushing us down.
‘But it was good fun and a good first Test for us as a group and we will grow off the back of this.’
While England, who are looking to break a 55-year duck to win the Rugby League Ashes, had come into the series as the underdogs, Wane revealed he was disappointed that his players failed to showcase their best at Wembley.
‘They are very disappointed in the dressing room,’ Wane said after the game.
‘I really wanted to see the best of our players, but we undersold ourselves today. That’s torture for me.’
‘I know what these players are capable of, but we didn’t give ourselves a chance to win,’ he said. ‘It hurts a lot; we didn’t put our best show on today. What we did wrong are easy fixes.
‘They outplayed and outkicked us. It is easy to fix but has a knock-on effect. It was simple rugby; we did not nail the details.’
