Wane was appointed in February of last year, but his time in charge of the national team has been constantly interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
He saw last fall’s planned Ashes series against Australia canceled and, prior to this week, he had only taken over one training session with his players.
Warrington Wolves’ loss at Halliwell Jones Stadium will give Wane much to ponder ahead of this fall’s Rugby League World Cup.
The All Stars had numerous players withdrawn from contention due to injuries and a clash of Super League matches, meaning England internationals Jake Connor and Jermaine McGillvary represented the All Stars, coached by Tim Sheens.
Both players made their case to Wane with Connor setting up two attempts and McGillvary scoring a good effort early in the second half. Connor limped off in the second half as did Huddersfield Giants and All Stars running back Aidan Sezer, leaving his clubs with more potential injury problems.
The All Stars had included Wakefield Trinity’s Liam Kay and Featherstone Rovers’ Junior Moors in their 19-man squad, but both players missed the cut for the team of the day.
Paul McShane made his long-awaited England debut and produced one of the match’s moments as he showed remarkable pace to chase McGillvary late in the first half.
Mikolaj Oledzki and Ash Handley of Leeds Rhinos also received their Wane debut with Tom Davies, Morgan Knowles and Joe Philbin among whom they won their first international matches for England.
It turned out to be an unfortunate debut for Handley, as he came off the bench only to be pulled with a head injury from which he did not return after failing an HIA.
Wakefield’s Joe Westerman was back on the international side for the first time in nearly seven years when he started as a loose forward.
England finished the game with just 15 players, as Bradford-born forward John Bateman was also forced to retire in the first half due to an ankle injury.
Sam Tomkins was the team captain after driving over 1,000 miles from the south of France to make himself available to play. Leeds forward Matt Prior co-captained the All Stars, who took the lead after five minutes in back-and-forth competition.
Connor set up the opening attempt for Ken Sio when he received a pass from Sezer before finding his winger to lunge into the corner.
It didn’t take England long to strike back when Liam Farrell crossed and it was the Wigan man who planted England’s second to extend the lead.
It was an attempt that was made in Yorkshire though, as Westerman found Luke Gale with a volley and the Leeds Rhinos man timed his pass perfectly for Farrell to crash into him.
Connor was again involved when the All Stars responded with a third try. The Hull FC man lured in defenders before finding Castleford’s Peter Mata’utia, who put on an excellent display on the night, to force his way.
Then came injury problems for Wane as Bateman and Handley limped off as Sezer kicked two penalty goals to put the All Stars ahead at halftime.
McGillvary, who has 17 appearances for England, put the All Stars ahead within five minutes of the second half. It started off with a Mata’utia dunk before the Huddersfield winger passed three defenders to score in the corner.
England responded well with Gale timing a pass perfectly for Morgan Knowles to break in and score next to the posts.
The All Stars were next in the cover-up when Sio got his second try of the night as the England defenders pushed the ball back over the try line to allow the winger an easy finish.
Reece Lyne, back in contention for England after leaving Wane’s team last year, set up England’s fourth down when he found Davies to score in the corner on his debut to set up a tense finish. The extreme culés had also left France to represent his country.
There were no further attempts as the All Stars recorded a narrow victory in Wane’s first game in charge.
England: Sam Tomkins; Tom Davies, Reece Lyne, Ben Currie, Tommy Makinson; Stefan Ratchford, Luke Gale; Morgan Knowles, Paul McShane, Mike Cooper, John Bateman, Liam Farrell, Joe Westerman. Substitutes: Ash Handley, Daryl Clark, Joe Philbin, Mikolaj Oledzki.
All stars: Jake Connor, Ken Sio, Peter Mata’utia, Ricky Leutele, Jermaine McGillvary, Jackson Hastings, Aidan Sezer, Chris Satae, Nathan Peats, Matt Prior, Kenny Edwards, Kelepi Tanginoa, Luke Yates. Substitutes: Suaia Matagi, Pauli Pauli, Kruise Leeming, Andre Savelio.
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Source: www.yorkshirepost.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-06-25 21:38:10
