Luke fired up by the ghosts of tours past

Kiwis hooker Issac Luke says the side is using its recent failures in the UK as motivation to win this year’s Four Nations.

The 35-test veteran has been recalled to the national setup, starting last week’s 26-6 defeat to Australia after an indifferent start to his Warriors career cost him a place in the Anzac test.

Luke knows what it takes to win at this level, having tasted World Cup success in 2008 and Four Nations glory twice in 2010 and 2014, but success in the northern hemisphere has so far eluded him.

He was part of teams that failed to qualify for the Four Nations final in 2009 and 2011, and the 2013 World Cup decider in England. He also last year cocaptained an injury-hit tour party to a 2-1 series defeat.

That squad was without the likes of Shaun Johnson, Jared WaereaHargreaves and Thomas Leuluai, all of whom are fit this time around.

‘‘Last year we had to work with what we had, but in saying that there was a lot that we took out of last year’s cam-

paign,’’ Luke said during the Four Nations launch yesterday at Anfield, home of Liverpool Football Club.

‘‘We’ve been part of an era where we’ve come over here [to England] and been unsuccessful, so that’s most definitely a driving factor.’’

After being dropped from the midyear test, Luke admitted he wasn’t sure whether he would get the chance to tour the UK.

He said he was ‘‘overwhelmed’’ when he received the news of his selection,

and he’s desperate to play his part in replicating the Kiwis’ last UK triumph – the 2005 Tri-Nations win.

‘‘In ‘05 our boys came over and did the job, so it’s been 11 years since we’ve been able to come over and be successful,’’ Luke said.

‘‘It is a driving factor but at the moment we’re just preparing ourselves well for this weekend’s game.’’

The Kiwis have their first chance to get one up on England when they open their campaign at a sold-out John Smith’s Stadium in Huddersfield on Sunday. The make-up of their side is yet to be revealed but another senior player, prop Adam Blair, says he’ll be comfortable with whatever role he’s given.

Having been part of the run-on side in all of his Kiwis appearances since 2012, the Broncos enforcer started the 26-6 defeat to Australia last weekend in an unfamiliar role when he came off the bench.

‘‘I’m just happy to be in the team, to be quite honest. We’ve got a really competitive squad at the moment,’’ Blair said.

After his stint as captain last year, Blair handed over the responsibility to his former Storm team-mate Jesse Bromwich ahead of the Anzac test.

Bromwich said he had embraced the role and would be looking to lead from the front against England’s ‘‘worldclass’’ forward pack at the weekend.

‘‘They’ve got quality players all over the park and NRL players everywhere,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s very dewy and very slippery over here in England so they tend to play through the forwards.

‘‘I have complete faith that we can improve on our last game and show what we’re made of on the weekend.’’