‘Debrief’ planned after Bennett’s Lions nightmare
RUGBY league boss Ralph Rimmer says there will be no knee-jerk reaction over the future of Great Britain coach Wayne Bennett.
The eagerly-awaited return of the Great Britain brand after a 12-year absence has turned into a nightmare after three defeats out of three ahead of today’s Test against Papua New Guinea (7.30am).
Pressure is mounting on England head coach Bennett, whose contract with the Rugby Football League runs out after this morning’s match in Port Moresby.
Bennett, who turns 70 on New Year’s Day, has consistently spoken of his desire to take England into the 2021 World Cup, although he admitted in the post-match press conference in Christchurch last Saturday that the national team had taken a backward step.
“I’ve not spoken to him since the press conference but certainly when I left, he was very positive about the job going forward,” RFL chief executive Rimmer said.
“We’ll do a debrief once the tour has finished and not before. I won’t pre-empt the outcome but what I will say is don’t forget what Wayne has achieved as a coach.
“The review won’t be purely on the playing side, there’s all sorts of elements of the tour that we need to consider. That wrap will take place in December and the executive will make some recommendations to be put to the board early next year.”
Bennett has been forced to defend his Lions squad selection since the tourists arrived in Port Moresby, insisting there is no bias towards English players and revealing Leeds winger Ash Handley was flown 10,000 miles merely to provide cover for the final match.
Bennett kept the side that lost 23-8 to New Zealand, with Warrington stand-off Blake Austin continuing as a makeshift winger, but drafted Canberra-bound stand-off George Williams and a fit-again Joe Philbin onto the bench in place of Daryl
Clark and Josh Jones.
“We’ve played some pretty good football in the three matches”, said Bennett. “We haven’t always been at our best but we’ve been good and more than competitive.”
England’s women hope to complete the double over Papua New Guinea when they play the Orchids in a curtain-raiser at the national stadium.
WIGAN’S Great Britain centre Oliver Gildart could miss the first two and a half months of the 2020 season - including the trip to Huddersfield Giants on March 1 – after undergoing shoulder surgery.
Gildart dislocated his shoulder in Great Britain’s opening game of their tour against a Tonga Invitational XIII and returned home for surgery.