No excuses for Kiwis despite past struggles
New Zealanders know difficulties encountered when playing in England, reports Marvin France.
Kiwis captain Jesse Bromwich needs little reminder about the difficulties of playing in England.
The Melbourne Storm prop was there last year when the tourists went down in the deciding test to lose the series 2-1.
He was also part of the 2013 World Cup squad that, despite a thrilling last-gasp victory over the hosts in the semifinal at Wembley, is more remembered for the embarrassing defeat to Australia in the final the following week.
The Kiwis’ struggles in the UK stretch back well before then, though. Since claiming a historic victory in the 2005 Tri-Nations final against Australia at Elland Road, the national side has had a wretched run in the motherland.
The Kiwis have missed the Four Nations final on two occasions (2009 and 2011). Then there was the disastrous ‘All Golds’ tour of 2007 in which a 3-0 whitewash to Great Britain was followed by a successful campaign by skipper performance out maybe someone here.’’
Veteran Kiwis five-eighth Thomas Leuluai has even more experience playing in England having spent eight years plying his trade in the UK Super League.
He believes previous teams have been guilty of underestimating the talent in the Super League.
But with more Englishmen running around in the NRL, not to mention the appointment of master mentor Wayne Bennett as England coach, there is little chance of that happening this time around.
‘‘Everyone talks about Super League and NRL and the difference and all that but if you picked the top 17 guys from that competition, there’s a strong team,’’ Leuluai said.
‘‘We definitely know now not to underestimate them and you know they’ve got a new coach Wayne Bennett who’s a decent coach so it’s going to be a really tough on the field else should or be