After thrilling climaxes to both the NRL and Super League seasons the attention moves from club rugby league to international action on Sunday as England host New Zealand in the first match of a three game series in Hull.
England will be expected to win this series which isn’t a position they are used to but they will have to take care of a spirited Kiwi side who are likely to have gained significant inspiration from what the All Blacks did in the other code on Saturday evening.
England go into this match off the back of an annihilation of France last weekend. What we learnt from that match I’m not sure but at least we know that the English backs know where the try line is. It goes without saying this will be a much tougher test than that one was.
Steve McNamara has a near full strength squad for this series. He will be without Sam Tomkins but apart from that his squad is near enough how he would like it. He has a pretty much full contingent of NRL stars at his disposal too so there can be no excuses from the former Bradford boss in this series.
New Zealand warmed up for this series with a much tougher test against the Leeds Rhinos last week. They ultimately came through that test and will have been pleased how hard they were made to work so that would have been a good hit out for them.
Stephen Kearney’s men are ranked the best side in the world having won the Four Nations last year and the Anzac Test this year but they are without some big players not least in the form of Kieran Foran and Shaun Johnson.
There is also no Manu Vatuvei nor Simon Mannering while Jared Wharea-Hargreaves is also absent. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Jason Nightingale and Isaac Like will need to be at their best throughout the series.
Although the Kiwis are missing some star names England shouldn’t be stupid enough to think that they only have to turn up and win. There is still plenty of talent in this New Zealand squad and they will be out to emulate their Union counterparts and land this series.
It is interesting that Hull was chosen as the first venue in the series. New Zealand league has a fair affection with Kingston-upon-Hull with a number of Kiwis having played for Hull FC through the years including the NZ coach and Sam Moa who is in their squad so they might not be short of support here.
I wouldn’t be surprised if England win the series but I see the tourists as excellent value in this first match. They’ve had a good hit out where we saw their only real weakness came in their end kicks.
They’ve had nine days to work on that and when it really matters if that part of their game is played out properly they have the defence and dynamism in attack to snatch the opener away from an England side who contain many who’ve not played a competitive match in a month.
Back New Zealand to beat England for a 4/10 stake at 2.38 with Coral
Blog RL YTD: +3.29pts
