Marshall relishing chance

New Zealand captain finally gets the chance to play in Britian

Last updated: 23rd October 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Marshall relishing chance

Marshall: Relishing the chance to play in Britain

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New Zealand captain Benji Marshall is relishing the chance to end a long wait to showcase his talents on British soil.

Despite being one of the stars of the NRL, the Wests Tigers stand-off has had a long run of bad luck when it has come to touring Britain.

Marshall missed New Zealand's 2004, 2005 and 2007 tours through injury, while hw was also on the sidelines when the Tifers played Bradford in the 2006 World Club Challenge at Huddersfield.

And Marshall, who helped the Kiwis to their shock World Cup victory over Australia, can't wait to make up for lost time.

"It's a long time coming for me," said Marshall.

Special

"It's my first time in England so to get the opportunity to play for my country over here is going to be special."

Despite being the reigning World Cup holders, New Zealand enter the Four Nations tournament as outsiders behind the favourites Australia and Tony Smith's England.

However Marshall believes that the competition, which also includes France, is wide open.

"Any team can win this competition," he said. "We definitely have the belief that we're good enough to win it.

"We're underdogs every time we play Australia - that's okay. We were underdogs in the World Cup final. If anything, the pressure is more on them than it is on us.

"It will be a tough ask but we've had a pretty solid preparation coming into this tournament. We played a trial match against Tonga and we're building nicely. Hopefully we can have a good start to the competition."