Papua New Guinea captain Paul Aiton is hoping his team can end a disppointing Four Nations campaign on a high note.
Kumuls skipper hoping to pose a threat to England
Papua New Guinea captain Paul Aiton is hoping his team can end a disppointing Four Nations campaign on a high note.
The Kumuls take on England on Saturday after conceding 118 points in their games against New Zealand and Australia.
Victory in last year's Pacific Cup saw them promoted to the Four Nations but so far they have looked out of their depth.
All five English-based players have been named to start at Eden Park and they are looking forward to facing Steve McNamara's side, who have also lost both their matches to date.
It is almost two months since PNG went into camp and Aiton admitted it would be nice to end on a high.
"It's been a long camp, for us," he said. "It's been tough at times, most definitely, but it's been very enjoyable too. Hopefully we can get up for just one more game.
"It's a chance to restore a bit of pride and finish the tournament on a high."
Sour note
Papua New Guinea will be hoping to repeat their heroic efforts from their last meeting with England when they went close to pulling off a shock win in the opening match of the 2008 World Cup.
Aiton, who still rues a controversial decision that went against his side in that 32-22 defeat, admits it will be difficult for the Kumuls to repeat that performance with a side robbed of the bulk of their NRL stars by an internal dispute.
"It's one of those games you are a bit sour about," said the Cronulla forward, who is the only NRL regular in the squad.
"I think both sides put everything into that game and to not come away with a win after so much effort left everything sour but that's footie.
"It's a different side from the World Cup but that's been good and bad.
"The guys who are missing bring a lot of experience but the good part is that the resident players get a taste of international footie and their standard of footie has lifted tenfold just from playing these last two matches."
