Kiwis: Kearney looking for lift in standards

Coach Stephen Kearney talks with his team during a New Zealand Kiwis training session. Photo / Getty Images.

The Kiwis are working hard to tidy up their game ahead of Saturday's Four Nations clash against England in Dunedin.

Kiwis coach Stephen Kearney has made it clear to his side that they need to improve on last Saturday's patchy performance against Samoa and is looking for a lift in standards.

"We sat down earlier this week and made everyone aware that that sort of performance is not going to be good enough this week," Kearney said following Kiwis training today.
"So we've looked at the areas we need to improve on and that's been a focus of our preparation this week."

Kearney cut short a reporter's question regarding the closeness of the tournament standings and the different permutations surround points differential, making it clear he is only concerned with his team registering a third straight win.

All four competing teams remain in the running to make next weekend's tournament final in Wellington, but the Kiwis are single-minded in their focus.

"I don't look at the points table. I'm not worried about the points table. For us it's about putting our best performance out there on Saturday evening and that's all the focus has been on this week. For all of us it's about improving on last week. We all have areas we need to improve on."

Yesterday's team announcement signaled the return of utility Thomas Leuluai and forward Greg Eastwood to the interchange bench after both players sat out the 14-12 win in Whangarei.

The changes leave Lewis Brown as 18th man, while Suaia Matagi drops out after making his Kiwis debut in the Toll Stadium match.

"Obviously with Thomas, it was a matter of making sure we gave Issac Luke a run and with Greg [Eastwood] he had a slight injury from the first game.

"In terms of what we're looking for this week, I needed to get those two back into the mix somewhere. Unfortunately a couple of guys miss out but that's what we think is best for the team this week."

Kearney resisted making any changes to his starting side and said there had been no negative reaction from the few players who have yet to see any game time over the past three weeks.

"Our intention right from the beginning is to make sure that we fielded the best team possible. We're here to try and make the most out of this tournament. We feel that putting our best team out there on Saturday is that opportunity.

"They've been fantastic. We all understand that we're here to try and get a job done for New Zealand and they've been tremendous actually. Without their energy and without their spirit and the way that they've conducted themselves, I'm sure it would have been a different story, but they've been fantastic."

Kearney expects England to present a formidable challenge at Forsyth Barr Stadium following their narrow defeat to Australia on Sunday.

"Watching the game against Australia they really stretched them at stages and were a little unlucky in the end. That's what we're expecting, if we use the performance from them last weekend and the semi-final performance from last year, we know what we're in for and we've prepared that way."