Kiwis, England set for mouthwatering series

LONDON: England insists its comfortable win against New Zealand in Denver earlier this year means nothing and is braced for Kiwis side brimming with belief in the first test at Hull tomorrow.

Wayne Bennett’s side eased to a 3618 win at Mile High Stadium last June in Michael Maguire’s first match in charge of the Kiwis.

But fresh from an impressive 2624 win over world champion Australia in Auckland earlier this month, Maguire’s side will run out at the KC Stadium

confident of getting the threematch series off to a winning start.

‘‘They looked fantastic in

that performance [against Australia] and we’ll have to raise to that,’’ England fullback Jonny Lomax said.

England nemesis Shaun Johnson sat out the Denver test due to injury but takes his place in the lineup for a mouthwatering encounter between the sides ranked second and third in the world.

Johnson, who missed the threematch series defeat against England in 2015, has never been on the losing team against the Lions and been a thorn in their side ever since the 2013 World Cup semifinal.

The mercurial playmaker’s sideline kick following his own try in the dying seconds sealed a place in the final and, three years later, he booted the decisive field goal in a 1716 Four Nations series win at Huddersfield.

‘‘He’s a special player but they’ve got threats all over the field and we’ll have to be switched on to that,’’ Lomax said.

Maguire has named the same 17 players that beat the Kangaroos and said he had been delighted with the focus shown by his squad following that memorable victory.

‘‘What we achieved in New Zealand . . . was a start and the players recognise it was just that, a start,’’ he said.

‘‘Our focus since leaving New Zealand has been fixed on this first test.

‘‘We have a group of players here who are exceptionally passionate about playing for the jersey.

‘‘There are great signs for where we’re going but we need to make sure we do everything right this week.’’

England captain Shaun O’Loughlin said the home team was desperate to make a bold statement following the 60 defeat to Australia in the World Cup final in Brisbane last December.

‘‘We didn’t quite get over the line at the World Cup, which was disappointing, but we felt it was successful [overall],’’ O’Loughlin said.

‘‘This is the first time we’ve been on our own patch for a couple of years and it’s a good opportunity for the fans to come out and see us play in what should be some real class games.’’ — AAP