England players would have been well advised to ignore the advert outside their North Bay hotel in Wollongong over the weekend: “Everything that truly matters is possible,” it read. Not quite everything, it turns out. While England women packed their cases and headed out of Australia the morning after their World Cup campaign was ended by slick Samoa, England men are still stuck outside a party they’ve been told to leave.
Having watched their fate sealed during the Tonga v Samoa game on Sunday, England have moved to Sydney but some players will not arrive home until Friday, a week after their World Cup ended. It could have been worse. They have been staying overlooking Wollongong’s wonderful beaches, where the distinctly salty smell of seaweed drifts in with the mist off the bay.
The surfers among the squad could take a hundred steps from their bedroom and be in the water, and the players whose families are in town have been able to start their end-of-season holidays early. When Wigan teammates Junior Nsemba and Zach Eckersley reminisce about their trip to the World Cup, they may well talk about spending the afternoon riding e-scooters up and down Cliff Road or strolling along North Beach rather than playing against Tonga, France and Papua New Guinea. With the beaches, cafes and stunning lilac jacaranda trees on every street, there are worse places for dreams to end.
But most England players and staff are just desperate to get home. As the Lifesavers Club outside buzzed with hundreds of kids, England winger Matty Ashton was sat in reception messaging home. He was free to visit the friends he made when he spent a prolific try-scoring 2019 season with Mullumbimby Giants in the Country Rugby League before a trial at Swinton Lions launched his career.
Hooker Jez Litten didn’t have time to feel sorry for himself for long. The morning after Papua New Guinea wrecked England’s hopes, he was pushing a pram past WIN Stadium with his family. Most World Cups last five or six weeks for England.
This one was over within 13 days for Brian McDermott’s men. Still, by the time the last England players get home they will have been away a month. The much-criticised lack of preparation time could now be a blessing: at least they didn’t spend the fortnight before that in training camp.
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