England set for 'busy week'

Evergreen Gene praised by former Huddersfield coach

Last updated: 26th October 2008

England set for 'busy week'

Smith: Work to do

It's given us plenty to work on. We are going to have a busy week. We're pretty rusty in some areas but to still find a way to come up with a victory is a great attribute to have.

Tony Smith
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England coach Tony Smith expected to have a "busy week" after seeing his side battle to a hard-fought victory over Papua New Guinea.

The former Leeds and Huddersfield boss saw his side trail 16-12 at half time before running out 32-22 winners in their opening game at the World Cup.

Debutant Lee Smith grabbed a hat-trick, while fellow winger Ade Gardner got a brace of tries to help England avoid an embarrassing loss in Townsville.

Inspired by the evergreen Stanley Gene, the Kumuls provided a scare before running out of steam at the at the Dairy Farmers Stadium.

Pretty rusty

"I'm glad we had a game," said Smith, who has yet to taste defeat at international level. "We found out a whole lot about ourselves, which is good.

"It's given us plenty to work on. We are going to have a busy week. We're pretty rusty in some areas but to still find a way to come up with a victory is a great attribute to have.

"A lot of teams would fall in a hole in those situations. Tonight did us a whole lot of good."

Smith was quick to praise Papua New Guinea, who threatened an upset thanks to first-half scores from Rod Griffin, Jason Chan and George Kepa.

They managed to cross for a fourth time in the second 40 minutes, though by the time Paul Aiton got on the end of Keith Peters' grubber kick England were well in command.

To make matters worse for the Kumuls, who boast rugby league as their national sport, they lost centre Jessie Joe Parker to a nasty-looking eye injury.

Passionate

"With a team like New Guinea, if you give them the ball, they hurt you," said Smith.

"That's the way they play. They are passionate about rugby league and love to play with the ball in their hand.

"They scrambled well and their structure was a whole lot better than we had seen so there was a little bit of a surprise factor there."

On the impressive Gene, who he used to coach at Huddersfield, Smith added: "Stanley is full of enthusiasm and always does well for his team. They should be very proud of him."

England next face the Kangaroos next Sunday in Melbourne, before going on to Newcastle to play New Zealand in their final pool match on November 8.