Steve McNamara praises England spirit after series win over New Zealand
Saturday 14 November 2015 17:56, UK
Steve McNamara was full of praise for his players after England claimed a dramatic 20-14 victory over New Zealand at the DW Stadium to seal a 2-1 series win.
After taking an 8-6 half-time lead, England had to withstand heavy pressure at the start of the second half before tries from Elliott Whitehead - his second of the game - and captain Sean O'Loughlin put them out of sight despite the visitors' late surge.
The Kiwis scored scored twice in the last five minutes through Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Jordan Kahu to cause some late nerves, but England held on to the delight of McNamara.
"It's an incredible feeling," he said. "The players completely deserve it after working tirelessly.
"Success hasn't until this point come for the team but thankfully they've finally got what they deserve.
"New Zealand are the number one team in the world and have dominated international rugby league in a physical sense. We've been able to match that in three consecutive games.
"I don't think I've seen three games with as much attrition in them as these three. At times the games lacked a little bit of quality in terms of finesse but the conditions have really dictated that.
"We've got quality and experience to add to our group. We've got a good, young bunch that is ready to play for a number of years so the signs are pretty strong for us moving forward, particularly now we've got across the line."
O'Loughlin, who was named man of the series, added: "Captaining my country to a series win is massive. It gives a lot of the boys, especially the youngsters in the side, confidence that they can beat the Australians and Kiwis.
"There are a lot of boys who have come up short on a number of occasions so the confidence we can take from this is massive."
New Zealand arrived in England last month without a host of key players and Stephen Kearney admitted his inexperienced side were not quite good enough to head home with a series victory.
"I'm more disappointed than frustrated," the Kiwis head coach said. "Today's contest was a bit like the whole tournament - a real see-saw affair.
"We didn't play our best game today but what I did like is they had some real resolve about the group.
"We just made life hard for ourselves but I don't want to take anything away from England. They've been wonderful the whole tournament.
"We're a better footy team than that. There's some young guys here who need to take a lesson from today and the tournament in the sense that Test match footy is tough."
