Legendary Australian coach Mal Meninga believes England are a dangerous World Cup contender but feels they must win their opener against Samoa to have a chance.
Meninga’s defending champions again head into the tournament as favourites, and are fully expected to ease through their group comprising Scotland, Italy and this weekend’s opponents Fiji, who were hammered 50-0 by England in last Friday’s warm-up game.
The emergence of Tonga and Samoa as genuine contenders thanks to a flurry of allegiance pledges from the superstars of the NRL has led many to write England off before they have even thrown a pass.
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Not Australia however, with their iconic leader adamant that the hosts can justify their own belief that they can go all the way.
“England are dangerous with quality people all over the park and great experience in that squad,” the former Kangaroos captain told The Sportsman.
“You talk about the experience that we have in the Aussie side but this England side has really great experience and combinations and a great leader in Sam Tomkins.
“We know they are going to be dangerous and it will be really interesting to see how they handle the Samoans and vice versa. I think that will be a pre-cursor to which one of those two teams will be successful in this World Cup.”
Other than New Zealand in 2008, Australia have won every World Cup since the 1970s, when England competed as Great Britain. Most tournaments come down to New Zealand or Australia, with England stemming the flow with their near miss in 2017, as Meninga’s Kangaroos edged a compelling final 6-0. Wayne Bennett was in charge of England that year. This time it’s Shaun Wane. And he is the perfect man to lead England into another World Cup final, according to Meninga.
“You have got hope and you have got belief in your England team,” he added, with England set to avoid both New Zealand and Australia in their potential route to the final.
“You have to believe in what they are doing. Shaun is a very experienced coach who has had a lot of success so he knows how to brings teams together.
“We will be watching from afar and if we are good enough to get through our side of the draw we would get the Kiwis in the semis so we might not even get there. We have got to look after ourselves but being the host nation I really hope that England do well.”
Meninga experienced what he describes as some of his most enjoyable career moments on British soil, playing 31 times for St Helens in the 80s.
The need for a successful tournament in England in order to grow a struggling sport is not lost on the 62-year old, who insists the quality of this tournament’s competition can lift the game to a new level.
“I believe this tournament could kick-start the international game. We have great depth across the nations with five or six teams capable of winning it which is unheard of in the rugby league world.
“We have made players make decisions about their allegiances and that means they will play with passion.
“October and November should now become the opportunity to play the international game.”
Australia may be the team to beat on paper. But even Meninga knows they will be a relatively unknown quantity when they first take to the field. The Aussies haven’t played properly in three years and have thirteen debutants in their squad following the retirements of their iconic spine - Billy Slater, Johnathan Thurston, Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith. But Meninga is confident his team will be ready.
“They may not have Test experience but they have plenty of NRL experience and all but one has State of Origin experience.
“I’m not worried about experience anyway, the team is well balanced in all positions and have great adaptability so I think we have a really strong depth in the squad.”
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