England coach Steve McNamara has named an unchanged squad for Saturday’s Four Nations encounter with the Kiwis at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin (8.00pm kick-off).
After edging Toa Samoa 32-26 in the opening round, England was unable to protect its 12-4 halftime lead against the Kangaroos last Sunday as it went down 12-16.
Kangaroos coach Tim Sheens has retained the same starting backline for his side’s clash against Toa Samoa in Wollongong on Sunday but he has been forced to reshape his forward back Beau Scott ruled out. Sam Thaiday moves from the front row to start in the second row while Josh Papalii is promoted from the bench to start at prop.
Sheens has again named an extended bench of seven players including Vodafone Warriors-bound Ryan Hoffman. Hoffman is named to wear jersey No 17; he was also chosen in No 17 for the England match but subsequently didn’t play.
Going into the final round of preliminary matches all four teams have some sort of chance of reaching the final.
KIWIS v ENGLAND
Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
8.00pm, Saturday, November 8
Referee: Phil Bentham (England)
Kiwis | 1 Peta Hiku; 2 Jason Nightingale, 3 Shaun Kenny-Dowall, 4 Dean Whare, 5 Manu Vatuvei; 6 Kieran Foran, 7 Shaun Johnson; 8 Jesse Bromwich, 9 Issac Luke, 10 Adam Blair; 11 Simon Mannering (c), 12 Kevin Proctor; 13 Jason Taumalolo. Interchange: 14 Thomas Leuluai, 15 Greg Eastwood, 16 Martin Taupau, 17 Tohu Harris, 18 Lewis Brown. Coach: Stephen Kearney.
England | 1 Sam Tomkins; 2 Josh Charnley, 3 Kallum Watkins, 4 Dan Sarginson, 5 Ryan Hall; 6 Gareth Widdop, 7 Matty Smith; 8 George Burgess, 9 Josh Hodgson, 10 James Graham,; 11 Liam Farrell, 12 Joel Tomkins; 13 Sean O’Loughlin (c). Interchange: 14 Daryl Clark, 15 Brett Ferres, 16 Tom Burgess, 17 Chris Hill. Coach: Steve McNamara.
KANGAROOS v TOA SAMOA
WIN Stadium, Wollongong
4.00pm, Sunday, November 9
Kangaroos | 1 Greg Inglis; 2 Josh Mansour, 3 Michael Jennings, 4 Dylan Walker, 5 Sione Mata’utia; 6 Daly Cherry-Evans, 7 Cooper Cronk; 8 Aaron Woods, 9 Cameron Smith (c), 10 Josh Papalii; 11 Sam Thaiday, 12 Greg Bird; 13 Corey Parker. Interchange: 14 Boyd Cordner, 15 Robbie Farah, 16 Aidan Guerra, 17 Ryan Hoffman, 18 Ben Hunt, 19 David Klemmer, 20 Matt Moylan.
Toa Samoa | 1 Tim Simona; 2 Antonio Winterstein, 3 Tim Lafai, 4 Joey Leilua, 5 Daniel Vidot; 6 Ben Roberts, 7 Kyle Stanley; 8 Isaac Liu, 9 Pita Godinet, 10 David Fa'alogo (c); 11 Frank Pritchard, 12 Leeson Ah Mau; 13 Josh McGuire. Interchange: 14 Dunamis Lui, 15 Teni Maitua, 16 Sauaso Sue, 17 Mose Masoe, 18 Jesse Sene-Lefao, 19 Tautau Moga. Coach: Matt Parish.
