The last round of group stage matches in the Four Nations take place this weekend with the first of those seeing New Zealand taking on Scotland in Workington. Scotland are already out of the tournament and are playing for pride here while New Zealand know if they can win by 42pts or more they will be the first confirmed finalists.
New Zealand
As many expected prior to the tournament beginning New Zealand have a win over England and a defeat to Australia to their name although in Coventry last week the Kiwis were literally inches away from having a goal to tie the game against Australia which highlights how well they are playing at the minute.
New Zealand will aim to improve again on what we’ve seen so far and if they do that they will go into next week’s final, should they qualify for it, in good shape to defend their title successfully. They will also be looking at their set plays and making sure everything is ticketyboo ahead of next week.
Scotland
You have to give Scotland credit in this tournament so far. Ok they have ultimately taken a couple of heavy beatings on the scoreboard but if you have watched their matches you will have seen that for large periods of both matches they have been very competitive. This is a spirited side and that inner spirit serves them well.
The area where they haven’t helped themselves so far in the competition has been the number of penalties they have conceded. Some of them have been because they have been exposed and others have been the result of tiredness but you can’t compete at this level when you lose the penalty count so badly so their discipline will be key here.
Team News
New Zealand have made changes to their squad for this match as you would expect but they haven’t taken the opportunity to rest either of their half backs so Shaun Johnson will play here. Te Maire Martin, James Fisher-Harris and Joseph Tapine are all in line for a Test debut.
Scotland have recalled Ryan Brierley to their squad after he was surprisingly omitted last week. Kane Linnett has recovered from the injury he sustained against England and he will remain in the side. Callum Phillips and Sam Brooks drop out of the squad.
Betting
I’ve been with Scotland in both of their matches so far in the tournament but I think this is a tough ask for them here. They tired quite badly when England hit them up the middle last week and the Kiwis have plenty of power to throw at them too.
England didn’t have anyone to break the line for the first 30 minutes until the penny dropped that George Williams was the man to do it but New Zealand certainly have that in Shaun Johnson who is a magician with the ball in hand as we saw last week.
Scotland have done well to stay relatively close to their opponents in the first two weeks but with tiredness creeping in and the Kiwis having the incentive of knowing a 42pt win sees them into the final I expect the defending champions to cover a 36pt handicap here.
Tips
Back New Zealand (-36) to beat Scotland for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Skybet
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