{"id":551215,"date":"2025-11-05T18:19:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T18:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/551215\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T18:19:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T18:19:15","slug":"matty-lees-fractured-eye-socket-and-baby-daughter-make-for-unusual-rugby-league-ashes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/551215\/","title":{"rendered":"Matty Lees: Fractured eye socket and baby daughter make for unusual Rugby League Ashes"},"content":{"rendered":"

He will attempt to prevent England suffering a 3-0 whitewash after a comprehensive 26-6 defeat in London<\/a> was followed by a 14-4 loss last Saturday<\/a> in a much-improved performance at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium.<\/p>\n

England have matched world champions Australia at points in the series so far but have failed to take crucial try-scoring chances and have had little answer when the Kangaroos played at full pelt.<\/p>\n

Lees admits England have not been perfect – especially at Wembley, when their much-anticipated first Ashes meeting in 22 years turned into a damp squib in a flat atmosphere.<\/p>\n

But he says the improvements seen in Liverpool, where they were level at Australia following a first half they dominated, can be taken to Leeds.<\/p>\n

“That first Test didn’t lack effort, but we lacked clarity in our roles,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We fixed that in the second match. We were a lot happier and that showed. We were in there competing. Hopefully we can build on that.<\/p>\n

“We were hurting after the second game, although we were happy with the performance. We can be better in this third Test. We have got the enjoyment back.”<\/p>\n

Lees says England will be motivated by the aim of averting a series whitewash and earning a first Test win over Australia since 1995, as well as the thought of next year’s World Cup down under.<\/p>\n

Head coach Shaun Wane has faced scrutiny regarding his prospects of leading England into that tournament, although when asked what last Saturday’s defeat might mean for his future,, external<\/a> he said he “couldn’t care less” about the issue – saying he was only focused on winning the final Test.<\/p>\n

And Lees is firmly behind the former Wigan boss, saying: “He is the perfect fit for the job. I love every chance I get to play under him; he brings the best out of me and is one of the best coaches I have had.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He will attempt to prevent England suffering a 3-0 whitewash after a comprehensive 26-6 defeat in London was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-551215","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115498474951647348","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}