The defiant mood in the England changing room immediately after their 17-16 defeat by New Zealand in Huddersfield on Saturday underlined that they still have a chance of success in the Four Nations tournament even if the road ahead is slightly bumpier than many might have anticipated at this stage.
Losing a game billed as a semi-final of sorts – despite there still being two rounds of group fixtures to play – was certainly a setback for Wayne Bennett’s side. The fact that history will have to be made if England are to reach the final at Anfield on 20 November underlines how much they are on the back foot, even if the talk from the England players was of how nothing has yet been decided.
To have any hope of securing a place in the final they will have to beat Australia in London on 13 November, something no England side have achieved since 1995 and the days of Jason Robinson, Shaun Edwards and Martin Offiah. Even then they may have to rely on points difference when the group stage is concluded.
Before facing Australia England play Scotland in Coventry on Saturday in a game where anything less than victory would mean elimination from the tournament. Scotland will also be looking to bounce back from defeat after losing 54-12 to Australia at Hull’s Lightstream Stadium on Friday.
Referring to the New Zealand match Jermaine McGillvary said: “We can’t dwell on this game. We’ve still got two more to win to try and reach the final and, if people sulk and whinge about that, it’s no good for the team. We need to regroup and go again. We have looked good in training and we need to repeat that again and just not be so stupid in certain parts of the game.”
The consensus, admitted first by the captain, Sam Burgess, was that England were architects of their own downfall, with ill-discipline and errors plaguing what was, in some parts, a promising performance. Burgess remains upbeat. “We have improved a hell of a lot in two weeks,” he said, “and we have still got a couple of weeks before we play Australia.”
That England are still unable to win tight games at international level remains a worry, despite a change of coach and the return of Burgess into the fold following his spell in rugby union, but it does not seem to have affected the confidence of a group that were expected to make the final before the tournament began.
“A place in the final is still there for us, of course it is,” the Warrington forward Chris Hill said. “We proved we can beat the best against the Kiwis last year and are fully confident of doing the same to the Aussies. There is not one bit of doubt in that dressing room that we can go on and win this tournament.”
“At least in some ways we know what we’ve got to do now,” said Josh Hodgson, the England hooker who plays for Canberra. The Australia game is beginning to dominate the horizon already as England plot a remapped route to the final but the challenge Scotland provide will not be underestimated.
“We can’t look further than Scotland because they’re a good side on paper,” Hill said. “They’ve got nothing to lose so we have to be wary of them. You always have to be wary of a wounded animal.”
Defeat by New Zealand was certainly not in the script but the continuing run of narrow defeats by Antipodean opposition left a familiar feeling for England fans and they will be praying that trend comes to an end.
