Jesse Bromwich believes beating England will be a 'tough ask' for New Zealand
Thursday 7 November 2019 12:09, UK
New Zealand captain Jesse Bromwich is prepared for a strong England squad in Saturday's Four Nations clash in Huddersfield.
Bromwich was in the Kiwis team beaten 2-1 by England in their Test series in 2015 and admits the return of Sam Burgess from his spell in rugby union has added to the size of their task as they begin the defence of their Four Nations crown.
"They've a great team, with a lot of NRL experience, a lot of players I've played against," said the Melbourne Storm prop.
"Sam is an outstanding player, someone I used to look up to when I watched the Kiwis play England a few years back now.
"I've played against him a few times now and he's a tough competitor. He's very aggressive, the whole forward pack is impressive. It's a tough ask."
New Zealand have lost their last three matches and scored just six points in their two meetings with Australia this year but head coach David Kidwell, who takes charge for the second time following the departure of Stephen Kearney, believes he has solved those problems.
"We've addressed that in training and we've put it into action," said Kidwell after putting his team through their final training run at the John Smith's Stadium on Friday afternoon. "We just need to execute it tomorrow.
"We've prepared well this week and we're looking forward to what is going to be a big challenge tomorrow in front of a sold-out crowd.
"I'm sure some of the boys that haven't experienced an English crowd will be looking forward to enjoying it."
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Kidwell is aware of the threats posed by the eight-strong NRL contingent in England's 17 and says he has done his homework on the Super League-based players.
"Its a really strong competition over here," he said. "Mixed in with some NRL players, it's a very dangerous pack and team. We've to be on our A game tomorrow.
"We'll definitely be better for that run we had (in Perth). We've had some really good training sessions and worked on the things that let us down. Hopefully we've worked hard enough to fix them up."
