England coach confident his team can wrap up New Zealand series
Last Updated: 07/11/15 3:29pm
![England coach Steve McNamara confident of securing series by winning second Test against New Zealand](https://e1.365dm.com/15/11/768x432/steve-mcnamara-england_3373529.jpg?20151106143806)
England coach Steve McNamara is confident his side can lower the colours of world top-ranked New Zealand by securing the three-match series with a win on Saturday at the Olympic Stadium.
McNamara's men fought back from behind to win 26-12 at the KC Stadium last weekend to put the home side in a position to win a first series since 2007 - when Great Britain thrashed the Kiwis 3-0.
McNamara was assistant to Britain's boss Tony Smith eight years ago, and says his success-starved players understand the importance of the occasion this time around.
A crowd of around 45,000 is expected for the first-ever rugby league match to be played at the London Olympic venue and he said: "We're in a pretty good position."
England conceded a try 20 seconds from the end to lose to New Zealand in their last meeting in London, at Wembley in the 2013 World Cup semi-final, and McNamara added. "We've worked hard to get ourselves here.
"We've had some agonising losses in the last couple of years but we managed to turn it around last week and hopefully we can back it up tomorrow.
"Playing in London is a great opportunity for us. We're all aware of the outcome if we win this game.
"Hopefully there will be nearly 50,000 people here and the fact that 65% of those are from London or the south-east is huge for our game.
"Our national team should play in the capital. They boys are really excited because this game can do something special for rugby league in this country."
![England skipper Sean O'Loughlin wary of a wounded Kiwis at the Olympic Stadium](https://e1.365dm.com/15/11/768x432/sean-oloughlin-england_3373533.jpg?20151106144132)
England captain Sean O'Loughlin, who got his first look at the stadium at the team's final training run, said: "It's an honour to be involved in the first rugby league game here.
"It's a big chance for us. We've had a good week's preparation and everyone is focused on trying to get the series won.
"We didn't make the best start last week but we've addressed that in training. We know we're going to need a massive improvement but there is a lot at stake.
"They're going to be desperate because they need to keep the series alive."
McNamara, who is confident his side can avoid a repeat of their start in Hull when they fell 10-0 behind, is expected to keep an unchanged team with prop Mike Cooper overcoming a slight knee injury - but he declined to confirm his line-up.
"They're all fit and healthy, it's a good position to be in," he said. "Just because you win a game, it doesn't mean you go with the same team. We looked at the game from a lot of different angles but came up with the same 19. We do have the option to change one or two things if needed.
"We've put some things in place which will hopefully get us off to a better start because we certainly cannot afford to be 10 points down again."
England squad: J Bateman, J Burgess, T Burgess, M Cooper, L Cudjoe, L Farrell, B Ferres, J Graham, R Hall, Z Hardaker, C Hill, J Hodgson, S O'Loughlin (c), J Roby, K Watkins, B Westwood, E Whitehead, G Widdop, G Williams.
New Zealand: 1 R Tuivasa-Sheck, 2 J Nightingale, 3 J Kahu, 4 D Whare, 5 S Kenny-Dowall, 6 P Hiku, 7 T Lolohea; 8 J Bromwich, 9 I Luke (co-capt), 10 S Moa, 11 K Proctor, 12 T Harris, 13 A Blair (co-capt).
Interchange: 14 L Brown, 15 M Taupau, 16 B Matulino, 17 A Glenn.