Get set for a battle royale at the Four Nations

 
Steve Kaless Roar Guru

By , 22 Oct 2009 Steve Kaless is a Roar Guru

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The Kiwi team line up after losing the New Zealand Kiwis v Australian Kangaroos Centenary test at Westpac Stadium, Wellington, New Zealand. Sunday Oct. 14 2007. Australia won the game 58-0. AAP Image/Hagen Hopkins/PHOTOSPORT

The Kiwi team line up after losing the New Zealand Kiwis v Australian Kangaroos Centenary test at Westpac Stadium, Wellington, New Zealand. Sunday Oct. 14 2007. Australia won the game 58-0. AAP Image/Hagen Hopkins/PHOTOSPORT

The rugby league Four Nations begins on Friday, with one side out to show that their effort in the World Cup was no fluke and the other three all looking to erase varying levels of embarrassment.

If we look back over the press clippings from before last year’s World Cup, you’ll find that New Zealand’s worst ever team knocked over Australia’s best ever. Well, that is if you believe any tournament previews (ahem).

The three underdogs will be a buoyed by the fact that the games will only be controlled by one referee (remember those days? I think you can find some grainy archive footage somewhere). This should slow the ruck speed down, which in their eyes, will hopefully increase the time it takes to get the ball to Messrs Inglis, Slater and Hayne.

So let’s have a look at the four sides.

AUSTRALIA
Any way you slice it or dice it, the Australian backline looks red hot. How do you prepare a kicking game against the likes of Billy Slater AND Jarryd Hayne.

Maybe it’s just when its compared to their current backline, but the Australian forward pack seems to have lost some of its lustre to some of the engine rooms of years gone by. And it’s certainly the area their opponents will be targeting.

However, when you are targeting an area which is guided by Cameron Smith, you get a sense for the challenge facing the English, New Zealanders and French.

So the Australians are favourites. Hardly breaking news, but it will be interesting to see how they go about their business.

NEW ZEALAND
The Kiwis’ victory at Suncorp last year is now sitting comfortably in rugby league folklore and the relevant question is: they can’t do it again, can they?

It will certainly be almighty task for a team missing plenty of star power, from the likes of the absent Roy Asotasi, Simon Mannering, Taniela Tuiaki and Manu Vatuvei, and facing an Australian side which has also been pretty efficient at exacting revenge and an English team still hurting from their World Cup disaster.

The Kiwis will need Benji firing on all cylinders and the likes of Adam Blair and Bryson Goodwin replicating their NRL form over the next month.

A worrying sign for the Kiwis was the hard work they made of getting over Tonga in their warm up match in Rotorua.

Should they make the final, the Kiwis will have the belief that over 80 minutes they can upset the Australians.

ENGLAND
The English were an unmitigated disaster and should have been beaten by PNG if not for a fairly questionable forward pass call from referee Shayne Hayne (Kevin to his Mum).

The only smile they brought to anyone’s face was reading about the efforts of Keith Senior in tackling the world of internet dating (it was certainly more successful than any of his defensive efforts on field).

England coach Tony Smith has done what he had to do and made wholesale changes. It was gutsy to drop the likes of Rob Burrow and Leon Pryce, but he had a blank cheque after the collective efforts Down Under.

On paper, the English side looks half a shout (don’t they always).

Their pack is very solid, and with the likes of Jamie Peacock, Sam Burgess, Gareth Ellis and Adrian Morley, they should really be the equal of anything the other three teams can throw at them.

The English stocks of talented halves is also impressive, with Wigan’s Sam Tomkins, St Helens Kyle Eastmond and Warrington’s Richie Myler all looking like the real deal.

It’s likely Tomkins will get the first chance to partner McGuire.

It’s the outside backs that are the real concern for the hosts.

It says something that 12 months after he was the poster boy for everything that is wrong with English rugby league, Keith Senior would probably have made most people’s lineup … at 34.

Tony Smith, however, knocked back his offer to reverse his retirement and will instead have a very young three quarter line on display.

Shaun Briscoe, Ryan Hall and Chris Bridge all produced great seasons at club level, but there will be serious question marks over how they will respond to questions that will be asked of them on the international stage.

Still, there is only one way to find out.

The English will have the added advantage of home ground advantage and the winds are already giving the visitors the sort of icy reception they thought would be delayed until kick off.

Anything less than an appearance will be seen as a failure for the English. Having said that, many of their fans may accept more three performances with more passion and pride than they saw last year.

FRANCE
The French will be over the moon if they can stay competitive in all three of their matches.

After the said disaster last year, they punted Jon Monie (one odd appointment) for Bobby Goulding (an even stranger call).

Whether or not Goulding believes, like George Bush, the French have no word for de ja vu is slightly irrelevant. But whether Goulding can bring “the pride back to the jumper” (that is what he claimed was his aim) is another thing.

When the French turned up to the World Cup, many thought they’d put in a solid showing on the back of their experience in the Super League. They are going in with a similar set up again, with the vast majority of their squad coming from the Catalans.

Bizarrely, the French went to great lengths to have three French based Australians – Adam Mogg, Casey McGuire and Clint Greenshields – all eligible for the side (on the grounds of residency). They succeeded, only to have Mogg and McGuire pull out.

You’d be forgiven for thinking ‘why bother’? Which is, hopefully, what they won’t be saying about the French side over the next three weeks.

THE DRAW
Game 1 – October 23, England v France, Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster
Game 2 – October 24, New Zealand v Australia, Twickenham Stoop, London
Game 3 – October 31, England v Australia, DW Stadium, Wigan
Game 4 – October 31, France v New Zealand, Stade Ernest Wallon, Toulouse
Game 5 – November 7, France v Australia, Charlety Stadium, Paris
Game 6 – November 7, England v New Zealand, Galpharm Stadium, Huddersfield
The Final – November 14, 1st v 2nd, Elland Road, Leeds

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