Baffling moment exposes $1.6bn embarrassment; truth on controversial try: Crawley

The Kangaroos defeated England 14-4 to retain the Ashes in a game that failed to reach any considerable heights, with Australia holding on in a defensive arm wrestle.

But that in itself exposed one of the biggest talking points to come out of the contest.

Read on for all the biggest talking points out of Sunday morning’s game.

Watch the 2025 Rugby League Ashes LIVE with no ad-breaks in play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.

AN EMBARRASSMENT TO TEST MATCH RUGBY LEAGUE

You can only call it as you see it.

And as gritty as Australia’s 14-4 second Test win over England was to secure the Ashes, as a TV spectacle it will hardly go down as one of the classics in years from now.

But in fairness to the players, particularly the Kangaroos, it wasn’t entirely their fault that the match was such a scrappy affair.

While the Aussies’ attack was poor, the fact referee Grant Atkins couldn’t keep the teams apart certainly didn’t help.

Which leads us to the issue of the lack of clear line markings on the field.

Seriously, how in the hell do you have a rugby league Test match played at a state-of-the-art stadium where the referee can’t keep the teams 10 metres apart — because he can’t see the bloody lines?

Hill Dickinson Stadium, which cost an estimated £800 million ($A1.6bn) and is the home of Premier League side Everton, is supposed to be one of the world’s great sporting venues.

But the ground staff were obviously more worried about the next soccer match be played there — and bugger the rugby league.

It’s just not good enough for what is supposed to be the pinnacle of our sport.

They would have paid massive money to get the match played at this ground.

Yet the lack of clear field markings made it impossible for Atkins to keep a consistent 10 metres.

MORE FROM THE GAME

KANGAROOS PLAYER RATINGS: Walsh crashes back to earth; Munster magic burns Poms

‘NO DEFENCE’: Walsh binned as ugly mid-air tackle sparks melee

As a result, defence dominated the attack of both teams.

More than anything else that destroyed the game.

Yes, it was tough and some of the defence at times was brutal.

But the attack was second rate — because the players weren’t allowed the space they are used to.

Even when Nathan Cleary launched a 40/20 kick referee it was guess work for Atkins and the video referee to make the correct call.

Can you imagine if a Premier League team came to play in Australia and our ground staff dished up line markings for a soccer match that were on par with this?

It was an embarrassment to Test match rugby league.

We have stadiums all over Australia where multiple sports are played at the same venues on a regular basis, and each time the fields are marked up perfectly.

No wonder there were only two tries scored in the entire match.

Although the cynic in my wonders if maybe that was the hometown plan.

To make it as ugly as possible and give England its best chance to contain the classy Australians.

MORE FROM THE GAME

‘MUST HAVE BEEN KEVVIE’S COUSIN’: Munster’s hilarious run-in with infamous pitch invader

‘HE’S A POMMY’: Munster roasts England legend over crucial try

MUNSTER TRY WAS NO CONTROVERSY

Cameron Munster was the deserving man of the match.

And I reckon the video ref got it spot on with the crucial try Munster scored early in the second half to split the 4-all deadlock.

There was some debate about whether it should not have been awarded due to an obstruction.

James Graham was of the belief George Williams and AJ Brimson were denied a chance to tackle Munster when he ran around Angus Crichton.

You go back and watch that try and at no stage did Crichton interfere with any of the defenders.

And Munster was right when he explained: “Look there is obviously grey areas in our game. We can talk about going behind the block. But at the end of the day, the rules have changed a little bit, where if the block doesn’t really take anyone out or stand in someone’s way, it’s play on.”

IS IT TIME TO GIVE MOSES A CRACK PLAYING IN THE HALVES?

As for Nathan Cleary, he’ll always cop it when he doesn’t dominate at rep level.

But Cleary has played well in both Tests, even if he has played within himself — and his kicking game was again crucial in this one.

Along with the 40/20, his bomb to set up Hudson Young’s try was the match-clinching play.

Although with Mitchell Moses yet to play on the tour, it makes you wonder if Kevvie Walters should give Moses a go in the third Test just to see how he goes.

Whether it is resting Cleary or Munster, I’d love to see Moses in action after the way he finished off the season for Parramatta.

WALSH IS HUMAN AFTER ALL

After five straight man-of-the-match performances, Reece Walsh has shown he’s human after all.

Walsh’s supporters will argue that he tried his heart out in this one.

And that he should be praised for some of his desperate defence that shut down at least two try scoring opportunities.

But two were also penalised, and the one that resulted in a late sin bin had the potential to be critical heading into the final 15 minutes.

The fact England was unable to cash in on having the one-man advantage probably said as much about their attack as it did Australia’s gritty defence.

But against better quality opposition, it could have been a huge moment.

And it was a legitimate sin bin after he collected Dom Young high, when the giant winger wasn’t even in possession of the ball.

There was also an early forward pass that butchered one attacking raid.

Walsh was also lucky to escape with only one escort penalty after a couple of questionable calls went his way.

While there was a bizarre moment when Walsh turned his back on the defence and didn’t even attempt to catch a bomb after a mix-up with Mark Nawaqanitawase.

Overall, the Poms did a great job containing him, limiting Walsh to seven runs for 56m and not a linebreak or linebreak assist among them.

But again, the conditions of the field was a huge factor in this game and how it was played.

BEST OF THE REST

The best of the rest in my eyes were the two backrowers, Crichton and Hudson Young, along with Kotoni Staggs.

All three were also very good in the first Test win at Wembley.

While Staggs hasn’t had a lot of opportunities to show his explosiveness on this tour, he works incredibly hard, and the tap back off the Cleary bomb was typical of his effort.

TINO SIN BIN A TOUGH CALL

Good on big Tino.

It was like watching Steve “Blocker” Roach race to protect Benny Elias when Tino went straight on the attack when Harry Grant got in a scuffle with his opposite Jez Litten in the opening minutes.

Although it cost Tino 10 minutes in the sin bin (along with Dom Young), isn’t that what you want a front-rower to do when someone is giving it to his hooker?

The overreaction was from Grant Atkins to sin bin both players.

VIDEO REF ON ANOTHER PLANET

Is the video referee in England on another planet?

While I thought they got the Munster try call correct, some of the decisions were so slow it was just painful to watch them unfold.

Again, it was another factor that slowed down the game and stole away from the spectacle.