Papua New Guinea 28-10 Great Britain Rugby League Lions: Comeback tour ends in 4-0 whitewash

Former Great Britain forward Jon Wilkin on BBC Two:

“You’ve got Sam Burgess who has retired, Sean O’Loughlin’s not playing, Tommy Makinson – the Golden Boot winner from last year – is not in, Mark Percival – one of the best centres in the world – is not in, Morgan Knowles isn’t in. I don’t think this is representative of what our best international team is.

“What it does expose is that we’ve got no depth. Once you scratch a few of those main names out, there’s no depth to the playing squad.

“It’s been a poor tour, there’s no getting away from that. We’ve defended pretty well apart from this last test, but the players will admit that performance levels in the past few weeks just haven’t been there.

“When you’re in the performance industry, Wayne Bennett has put himself under some pressure.”

Former Great Britain international Jonathan Davies:

“He’s said they haven’t improved, they’ve gone backwards. If he thinks that, it’s going to be very difficult to keep his position. It’s up to the RFL now to decide if he’s the man.

“I agree with Jon Wilkin. Next year when they’re at home and they’ve got all players available, England will be a far stronger side.

“For me, international rugby is about selection and I’m not sure he got the selection right. He didn’t change the half-backs when they’ve been poor throughout the tour, and we’ve lacked leadership.”

Ex-New Zealand international Robbie Hunter-Paul:

“For me, from a continuity point of view, he needs to stay in place until 2021. I just don’t think he was the right fit for Great Britain.

“I was looking for something different from Great Britain but I just didn’t see it over the course of these four weeks.”

Papua New Guinea: Johnston; Gebbie, Mead, Olam, Amean; Laybutt, Boas; W Albert, Puara Jr, Page, Put, Russell, Martin.

Replacements: Ipape, Lo, S Albert, Meninga.

Great Britain: Lomax; McGillvary, Hughes, Connor, Austin; Widdop, Hastings; Hill, Hodgson, Burgess, Bateman, Whitehead, Graham.

Replacements: Thompson, Walmsley, Philbin, Williams.