England coach Steve McNamara has spoken of his desire to end 41 years of hurt - and of keeping the job after the Rugby League World Cup.
Undecided
McNamara will return with his squad from South Africa on Wednesday and put them through their paces in a friendly against Italy at Salford City Stadium on Saturday before they begin the serious business against Australia at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium a week later.
The coach says he is still undecided over the make-up of his team to face the Kangaroos, who flew out of Sydney on Monday morning, and will give most of his squad game time against either Italy or for England Knights against Samoa in the curtain-raiser at Barton.
"There is a lot of water to pass under the bridge yet," McNamara said. "We've got three very intense sessions to come whilst we're out here in South Africa and there is a game to play against Italy.
"We want to give as many people as we can a run-out in that game and some will play in the England Knights if we feel they need a little bit more game time, which they will be able to get in that fixture."
Two players who will definitely not feature in either match on Saturday are Warrington forward Ben Westwood, who is suspended, and injury-dogged Wigan loose forward Sean O'Loughlin, whose only matches in the last three months have been the Challenge Cup final and the Grand Final.
"I'm very pleased with where Sean is but we certainly won't play him in the Italy game," McNamara said. "We need him to be available not only for the first game against Australia but for the rest of the tournament.
"We feel, with the limited amount of game time he's had, he needs to go through a couple of weeks of sustained training before we'll consider him for any of the games."
