England overcame a slow start in Hull last week to go 1-0 up in their Test Series with New Zealand and they head to the Olympic Stadium in London on Saturday knowing a repeat result will see them secure the series with a match to spare.
New Zealand flew into an early lead last week but didn’t have enough firepower to match England from the bench and paid the price but you know they will come back fighting in this match so this is all set up for a fantastic Test.
England coach Steve McNamara has named an unchanged squad for this match and all likelihood he will name an unchanged side too. His bench won England the game last week but the coach has publicly stated he wants better from the 13 who begin the game.
Stephen Kearney has picked from an unchanged squad himself but he has made two potentially vital changes to their 17 with two youngsters in Kodi Nikorima and Sio Siua Taukeiaho being omitted for the more experienced Lewis Brown and Alex Glenn.
Last week’s match was a great opener to the series. England’s bench certainly delivered for them but you would have to say they had more than their fair share of the refereeing calls too not least in seeing a New Zealand try wrongly chalked off for an obstruction that quite clearly wasn’t there. We should perhaps note an Australian official will be in charge for this game rather than an English one.
New Zealand seem to have identified where things went wrong for them last week and have made adjustments there and that should make for a much better contest. We saw at times last week there isn’t much between these two sides and I certainly believe that will be the case here too.
The outcome of the match could well depend on who holds their nerve in the final quarter. It might even be a case of who has the ball last as a couple of recent previous encounters have but I think we’re set for a classic, one I can’t really call other than I expect it to be close. With that in mind I’ll take the converted try start that the Kiwis get.
Back New Zealand (+6) to beat England for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
Blog Rugby League YTD: -0.71pts
