Tuesday 4 November 2014 16:06, UK
England coach Steve McNamara has named an unchanged side for Saturday’s must-win Four Nations clash with New Zealand in Dunedin.
McNamara has kept faith with the team that were narrowly defeated by Australia, with Sean O’Loughlin again captaining the side after officials decided he had no case to answer after being placed on report for an alleged trip on Cameron Smith.
Dan Sarginson, who replaced Michael Shenton for the Kangaroos defeat, keeps his place at centre after impressing on his Test debut.
England need to beat the Kiwis by 10 points to leapfrog them into top spot on the ladder and guarantee a place in the November 15 final in Wellington.
If England win by fewer than nine points, they could be overhauled by Australia, who meet Samoa in the last round-robin game on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Super League's top referee Phil Bentham will be in charge of the game in Dunedin after getting the nod ahead of Australian Gerard Sutton.
Organisers caused a stir by ignoring neutrality with the appointment of Sutton for the Australia-England game and have maintained that policy with the selection of Bentham, who refereed the Grand Final at Old Trafford as well as the Australia-New Zealand game in Brisbane.
England: S Tomkins (New Zealand Warriors); J Charnley (Wigan), K Watkins (Leeds), D Sarginson (Wigan), R Hall (Leeds); G Widdop (St George Illawarra), M Smith (Wigan); G Burgess (South Sydney), J Hodgson (Hull KR), J Graham (Canterbury Bulldogs), L Farrell (Wigan), J Tomkins (Wigan), S O'Loughlin (Wigan, capt).
Interchange: D Clark (Castleford), B Ferres (Huddersfield), T Burgess (South Sydney), C Hill (Warrington).
