Chris Hill Knows England Need Better Game Management As They Prepare To Take On Papua New Guinea

Chris Hill Knows England Need Better Game Management As They Prepare To Take On Papua New Guinea
10:21, 17 Nov 2017

Prop Chris Hill says holding on to the ball will go a long way to defeating Papua New Guinea in the World Cup quarter-finals.

England registered a loss and two wins to book a quarter-final place in Melbourne. There they will meet the Kumuls, who topped Group C with three straight victories. Despite being favourites to beat the Pacific nation, Hill believes Papua New Guinea will be a “good challenge”.

“We need to start controlling the ball a bit more and go set for set with them,” the Warrington forward said.

“Physically, there are no weak links in their team and that’s what you get with them and the other island teams. We’ve got to be on our game and while I think our defence has been pretty good, we’ve just been a bit scratchy with the ball.

“If we can keep hold of it, we’ll go a long way to winning. And I don’t think the fact it’s in Melbourne will make a difference, they’re a good side and if you give them too much ball, they can punish you.”

England opened the World Cup with defeat to Australia and followed it with two up and down victories over Lebanon and France. Hill maintains England’s performance of the tournament to date was against the Kangaroos.

“But then we got the wins, which is the most important thing in the group,” admitted the Warrington Wolves forward.

“We’ve improved in some areas but there’s still a lot of improvement left in us. I think we were better against France than we were against Lebanon, we improved in areas but again we can get even better. We’ve got to now as there are no second chances. Wayne said, ‘Lads, you’re playing for the 17 shirts next week,’ and I think a few lads put up a claim for it. It’s knockout rugby from now on, so we’ve got to be on our game.”

On Sunday, Hill will come up against Catalan hooker Paul Aiton. The forward knows the England team well from his time at Leeds, Wakefield and the Dragons.

“I’ve played with or against all of them,” Aiton said.

“The coach will ask for insights into each player and I am glad to help out. Our chances are very good, 50-50 as far as we’re concerned. We are training to win. It is history again for us. It would be massive. Coming into the tournament we didn’t want to settle for a couple of wins at home. You dream of the quarters and now we can focus fully on this game and hopefully further than that.”

The Kumuls have played all three World Cup group games on home soil in Port Moresby but now head south for the cooler climate of Melbourne. Aiton believes playing the quarter-final in Australia might actually help his team.

“It is good to play at home but that also comes with a lot of pressure because there are eight million people behind you,” he said.

“We don’t have that coming into this game so we can focus a lot more. It is a good thing we take out of playing away.”

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