Steve McNamara wants England to only celebrate their win for the time being
While addressing the post-match conference on November 13, England’s head coach, Steve McNamara, asked his side to savour their thumping 28-6 win over Kiwis in the sudden-death fixture last weekend and not spoil the celebrations with the Gillette Four Nations
final showdown against Australia, scheduled to take place on Saturday, November 19, in Leeds.
While speaking about his recent win over the black caps, McNamara stated that his side needs to win the competition. However, during this week they should only sit back and relax, and enjoy their crucial win over Kiwis to the fullest.
English side exhibited their full form in the final group match of Four Nations, scoring a total of four tries from their quarters. Their performance was so impressive that it even compelled Kiwis’ coach, Stephen Kearney, to acknowledge that England exhibited
a complete performance during the game. He even added that England has what it takes to crumble the Australian force.
English side established an early lead which led to the initial half score break-up of 8-0, which also featured in a try from Tom Briscoe. During the second-half of the game, Kiwis’ also fought back but their efforts were all in vain, because the score margin
continued to widen between them, with James Graham and Sam Tomkins running in tries in the second half of the game.
Kevin Sinfield has been brilliant in Saturday’s showdown, which was studded with his booting a total of six goals in the game. This had led to him winning the man-of the-match title.
Expressing his views about England’s overall performance, McNamara said, “I think it was really controlled, measured, efficient, effective - and we knew it had to be that way if we were going to get across New Zealand. We had to show patience - I think they
held us up over the try-line four times and that was a tremendous effort from them. It was a real step in the right direction from us in terms of being able to deal with that. We managed to keep the pressure on the opposition, so it was pretty good.”
The English coach also acknowledged the resistance shown by their final group match’s opposition actually led them to their victory. With their sudden-death victory, England booked their berth in the final showdown featuring Australia in contention.
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