England were beaten 30-8 by Australia at Headingley on Saturday afternoon, and were condemned to a 3-0 series whitewash defeat on home soil in the process.
With the first Ashes Series in 22 years now over, here are our England ratings live from the press box in Leeds…
AJ Brimson – N/A
We only saw 11 minutes of Brimson before he was forced off with a shoulder problem.
Joe Burgess – 4
Brought in for a first England cap in a decade, and we didn’t see enough from him with the ball. Knocked on three minutes in and the opening try came from it. Did a great job of rattling the Aussies in the second half, though, it must be said.
Harry Newman – 6
Newman had a lot of the ball without doing much with it, but won’t be disappointed with his showing. Should have scored in the second half, but prevented a sure-fire try at the other end not long after.
Herbie Farnworth – 6
We’ve not seen enough from Farnworth all series, though we’re not sure that’s wholly his fault.
Tom Johnstone – 5
Similarly to Burgess on the opposite flank, we were left wanting more with the ball in hand from Johnstone. A poor miscommunication with Mikey Lewis in the first half didn’t help, either, but we’ll get onto that.
George Williams – 7
Scored England’s first half try, but came to life more in the second half. Still didn’t manage to break down the Aussie wall with plenty of ball though, which is perhaps a nod to just how poor England have been in this series at times.
Harry Smith – 6
A quiet afternoon from Smith, who didn’t really do much wrong but never lit up the room. Two from two with the boot.
Mike McMeeken – 7
A solid couple of stints from McMeeken, who hasn’t let England down all series.
Jez Litten – 8
England’s best on the day and arguably one of their best in this series. His break for Williams’ first half try was the moment the hosts have been waiting for all series, and we’re sure he’ll have taken delight in sending Reece Walsh for a hot dog. 8.5, if we did halves.
Matty Lees – 7
7.5 if we did halves here for Lees, who forced a knock on early on and is one of few who has looked up for the arm wrestle throughout the series.
Kallum Watkins – 7
A really high tackle count from Watkins, who improved as the afternoon went on at Headingley. A great line from him got England on the front foot 20 minutes in, but they didn’t manage to take advantage. Story of the game and story of the series?
Kai Pearce-Paul – 5
The nation had great expectations for Pearce-Paul ahead of this series, and we’ve not really sene a great deal from him. This was arguably his worst of three individual displays, with the final try from Reece Walsh summing his afternoon up.
Morgan Knowles – 7
A few moments throughout Knowles won’t look back on fondly, but him and Lees were England’s best forwards again. Showed oncemore what a huge loss he’ll be to St Helens and indeed to Super League.
Mikey Lewis (Interchange) – 3
Before anyone mentions it, we know Mikey Lewis is not a full-back, and we’ll start with crediting him for how lively he was when he got on the ball. But having been introduced in the #1 role early on thanks to Brimson’s injury, he was pretty abysmal in defence, especially under the high ball. A disjointed attack was, at times, his doing, too. Let the pile on begin for this rating…
Alex Walmsley (Interchange) – 6
Nothing wrong with what Walmsley delivered on the day.
Morgan Smithies (Interchange) – 7
We liked what we saw from Smithies off the bench again, and he had an impact, though it probably wasn’t quite as good as what we got from him last weekend at Everton.
Mikolaj Oledzki (Interchange) – 6
Better from Oledzki this weekend than last, but we were still left wanting more from him.
