Bromwich fit and ready to face Scotland

Kenny Bromwich has declared himself fit for the Kiwis’ next match and says his banned older brother Jesse is ‘‘100 per cent behind’’ the Kiwis’ Rugby League World Cup campaign.

The younger Bromwich - a NRL winner with the Melbourne Storm missed the Kiwis’ opening World Cup win over Samoa last Saturday after tweaking his groin at training.

But the 26-year-old utility forward is likely to be back for Saturday’s clash with Scotland in Christchurch when coach David Kidwell names his starting lineup today.

‘‘It’s feeling good right now,’’ Bromwich said during the Kiwis’ cleanup session at the fire-ravaged Christchurch Adventure Park yesterday.

‘‘If the [Samoa] game was on Sunday, I think I would have been sweet to play. But if I wasn’t 100 per cent healthy, it would have pretty selfish of myself to say I was going to go out there and play.

‘‘I didn’t want to let down the boys.’’

Bromwich, who won the first of his two Kiwis caps in 2016, has since responded well to treatment and is confident he is ready to return.

There was never any question that he would declare himself unavailable for the World Cup after his brother’s ban.

Jesse Bromwich was stripped of the Kiwis captaincy and suspended for two games and was dropped from the Kiwis’ World Cup squad after he and Kevin Proctor had a drunken spree after last May’s Anzac test, which ended with a man being charged with supplying them cocaine.

But it appears he has put the incident behind him and encouraged brother Kenny to play at the World Cup.

‘‘I was always keen to put the black jumper on. This opportunity doesn’t come around too often. He even spoke to me and said to me, ‘100 per cent go forward and do it, this is our country; this is what we play for’.’’

Bromwich is enjoying the atmosphere in the Kiwis’ camp.

‘‘I thought it was a pretty good environment to come into, especially after what happened this year [following the Anzac test loss to Australia].

He said the Kiwis had ‘‘an awesome squad’’ and he was ‘‘happy with our coaching staff and team management’’.

‘‘It’s been unreal coming into a place like this. They took us to a marae [Turangawaewae in Waikato], and not many of us had been to marae and stayed there for a while. I think my last time on a marae was seven or eight years ago.’’

Bromwich said the environment had ‘‘changed a bit to previous campaigns’’ and he thought the Kiwis ‘‘are in good shape’’.

The Kiwis have turned their focus to Scotland with Bromwich tuning in to the telecast of their 50-4 loss to Tonga on Sunday in between treatment sessions.

Scotland - with just two current NRL players in a squad drawn from English-based teams - are an unknown quantity.

‘‘I’m expecting them to come out firing. They did that against Tonga but let a few [points slip], but I thought they finished off the game with a lot of pride.

Bromwich said the Kiwis have to improve their error rate from their 38-8 win over Samoa.

‘‘We can’t give away that much ball to any side and expect to play well. That’s what we need to improve on.’’