IT’S fair to say that England’s Rugby League World Cup campaign ended in disappointment.
A semi-final exit at the hands of Samoa left Shaun Wane’s men out of their home tournament as Australia went on to lift the Paul Barriere Trophy yet again.
For Wane, it was a case of disaster considering that his task and aim was to lift the World Cup on home soil.
Now, former St Helens man and current BBC and Sky Sports pundit, Jon Wilkin, has called for an inquest into why such a semi-final defeat occurred and how to rectify the issue moving forward.
“It’s rugby league – we sweep it under the rug,” Wilkin said on Sky Sports. “It’s rugby league we won’t talk about it, we might talk about it or analyse it next year when everyone has forgotten what happened,”
“We played really well in the World Cup but we fell short in the semi-final with a really poor performance.
“I’d like some analysis of how that happened and I’m sure Shaun Wane will want that as well. As a coach that’s what he should want.”
For fellow pundit Brian Carney, the former Ireland international believes that Wane’s contract will not be extended as England head coach after a ‘disaster’ of a semi-final defeat to Samoa.
“By his own admission, pre-tournament getting to a final and not winning it was a disaster so where does he put a semi-final exit?
“It was a disaster for him. It makes it difficult to extend that contract as the own coach has admitted it was a failure.
“I think the easiest thing is to roll the job up. I’d be more than happy to get to the World Cup in France and give it to the best coach at that time. It’s not a full-time job.”
