Former England winger Chris Ashton has said Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii would not play for England and questioned why Rugby Australia “keep signing rugby league players” after the Wallabies’ 45-22 thrashing at Twickenham.
Ashton, a dual international who played rugby league for Wigan and England before winning 44 caps for England in union, made the comments on the BBC Rugby Union Weekly podcast, The Age reported.
“I think the biggest tell in games of this level is how much energy and effort that players are putting in, and Australia were operating at about 20 per cent,” Ashton said. “It was almost a carbon copy of last season (a 25-7 England win). I just can’t get my head around it. We keep trying to find positives for Australia, and that they’re moving in the right direction, but I ain’t seeing it.
“And they keep signing rugby league players. This Suaalii gamble, [I] dread to think how much he gets paid, he doesn’t look like a … international rugby union player to me.”
‘He wouldn’t be playing for England’
Read more: England Hammer Wallabies 45-22 in Record Twickenham Win
Ashton said Suaalii’s best game in rugby was his Test debut at Twickenham in 2024, but he had not been impressed since.
“If he was English, he wouldn’t be playing for England. He just won’t be there,” Ashton said. “But yet he’s here, he’s running around every week for Australia.
“And they’ve got two or three more coming, rugby league lads that they want to get for the World Cup. I’ve no idea where Australia are heading, and what direction they’re going in. And they’ve got a World Cup coming up in less than a year.”
Suaalii played on the wing at Twickenham and competed well in the air but had only eight carries, The Age reported. Rugby Australia has signed two more NRL players, Zac Lomax and Angus Crichton, in the past year.
During the BBC’s match commentary, Ashton said Suaalii did not look like he knew how to ruck. “When I’m watching him, I’m watching him ruck, he looks like me when I didn’t know, and I didn’t have a clue what was going on,” he said.
Read more: Zac Lomax to Make Australia A Debut Against USA in New Jersey
Youngs piles on, George defends Wallabies
Former England halfback Ben Youngs, writing in the Daily Mail, said England backrower Henry Pollock had an easy afternoon on the wing. “Australia did none of that. They gave him an armchair ride. That’s rugby IQ 101,” Youngs wrote. “For all of England’s brilliance, I still can’t get over how poor Australia were. They were toothless.”
England hooker Jamie George was kinder. “I thought they played well today. I genuinely thought that they were pretty good across the whole,” George said. “I think maybe the key here is to focus on how we were able to not let them play their game because they’re a very, very good team, and I think they’ll show that throughout this autumn.”
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