8 mins. Finally, an attack of note breaks out after a big carry from Dom Young sets Williams running free up the right touchline. He spots a gap behind the line to chip the ball into which is gathered by Farnworth whose pop pass to Johnston is slapped down by Walsh as he defends desperately.
6 mins. The first error of the game is a spilled ball from Hudson Young in the tackle that gives possession to England on halfway. The story of the match so far continues as a few carries lead to the ball being kicked away as the defence from Australia is organised and furiously competent.
4 mins. Welsby runs a a wide channel on a kick return that nearly allows him to put Farnworth away on the left, but the green and gold door slams shut. There are more jabs and probing runs from both sides as we await the game to break out from the solid start.
2 mins. Australia receive the ball and execute a settling first set of six of the match, the forwards carrying up to their forty metre line before Cleary puts his foot through the ball. A similar story for England’s first set as the teams feel their way into the test match.
Mikey Lewis boots the game underway.
The teams are out into a cloudy autumn afternoon in London. We await the anthems and then the action.
While we’re considering the previous Ashes series in 2003. The first test last time out featured GB’s Adrian Morley being sent off after 12 seconds for a shocking high shot on Robbie Kearns. It happened so fast the camera had not even zoomed in from the wide kick-off angle to where the incident happened.
Here is Morley himself reflecting on it recently…
“I looked at my kids and had tears in my eyes.”
A lovely piece here about Leeds and England prop Mikolaj Oledzki, whose family arrived here from Gdansk when he was a child, and what it means to be in the squad for this series.
Some reflections on what lies ahead to get you in the mood before the match.
If you have an opinion on this match or anything else, then I’d love to read it. Send them in to me on the email
England: Jack Welsby, Dom Young, Herbie Farnworth, Jake Wardle, Tom Johnstone, George Williams (c), Mikey Lewis, Ethan Havard, Daryl Clark, Matty Lees, John Bateman, Kai Pearce-Paul, Morgan Knowles.
Interchanges: Jez Litten, Alex Walmsley, Owen Trout, Mike McMeeken
Australia: Reece Walsh, Mark Nawaqanitawase, Kotoni Staggs, Gehamat Shibasaki, Josh Addo-Carr, Cameron Munster, Nathan Cleary, Patrick Carrigan, Harry Grant, Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, Angus Crichton, Hudson Young, Isaah Yeo (c).
Interchanges: Tom Dearden, Lindsay Collins, Reuben Cotter, Keaon Koloamatangi.
Welcome to the opening test of the 2025 Ashes series.
In rugby league, Ashes tests are like buses, come along as they do in threes very infrequently. Today is the start of the latest trio of matches after a 22 year wait since the fabulously sponsored “THINK! Don’t Drink And Drive!” series of 2003.
Buses can also mercilessly run over groups of people, and Australia have made a habit of releasing the brakes on their considerable heft to smash opposition from these islands for 55 years. The Kangaroos have won all 13 series since the last British victory in 1970 and come into this year’s installment as favourites to do the same.
A Great Britain team made up of a majority of English players lost the 2003 series to a whitewash despite leading all three tests in the second half; this was before the Australian class did enough late in each game to record an overall battering in that year’s sports almanac. The Kangaroos remain formidable two decades on, but England also have a greater number of players appearing weekly in the NRL down under than at any time previously, including the impressive Herbie Farnworth. The mystique and terror of the green and gold juggernaut arriving on these shores is not what it once was.
Even with that, turning the bus around and claiming victory after half a century of trying remains a huge challenge for Shaun Wane’s England.