Football News
Purdham confident England can overcome Kiwis
England loose forward Rob Purdham insists England can find a way past New Zealand and make it to the Rugby World Cup final. Despite a disappointing showing so far in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup, England are only one game away from the final, and a win the Kiwis this weekend will set up a meeting with either Australia or Fiji.
Purdham, who retains his place in the England squad for the semi final,
insists the Lions are ready: "There's definitely still a lot of
confidence. We don't feel like they beat us last week, I think it was
more a case that we beat ourselves.
"There were plenty of signs in the first half of how we could beat them,
so we'll be confident going into this weekend and I'm sure as a group
we'll pull together and we'll put it right."
The game in Newcastle saw all six members of the England squad yet to
play a game get a run-out, and Purdham says the spirit in the camp is
even stronger now that everyone has enjoyed some game time.
"It's good to get everybody up and running and on their feet, and it has
put a bit more competition for places there. But everyone will be
pulling together for the same goal this weekend and a win in the semis
to get to that final."
Purdham was earned praise following the defeat at Newcastle, with four
goals and a capable performance at loose forward in his first match of
the World Cup. And he says the team are well aware of the improvements
needed to reverse that result this week.
"We just need a more complete performance and, in the second half, we've
got to start completing our sets of six and kicking the ball long. It
was very disappointing last week but we've gone over all our mistakes,
and we've definitely got a decent chance of putting the Kiwis away on
Saturday."