League: 5 reasons to fear the British

Leaving aside an instantly forgettable one-off Tri-Nations encounter in 1999, a decade has passed since this country was last gripped by the prospect of the Great Britain Lions strutting their stuff in New Zealand.

Then again, with just 26,000 fans attending the three tests in Auckland, Christchurch and Palmerston North, 'gripped' possibly isn't the right word.

That 1996 tour wasn't exactly memorable for the British, either.

After beating Papua New Guinea by two points in Lae, the Andy Farrell-skippered Lions enjoyed a couple of romps in Fiji before stumbling to a 22-22 draw against a Lion Red Cup XIII in Auckland.

And that was as good as it got for the Lions, who lost all three tests and also capitulated to a Divisional XIII in Lower Hutt and New Zealand Maori in Whangarei.

With some of the squad sent home as the touring party ran out of money, the tour marked the low point for British league.

Times have changed.

Anyone expecting a similar sort of showing this time around is in for a shock.

1996 may well have been the Lions' nadir but it was also the dawn of a new era: the Super League era.

While the words Super League are synonymous with failure and folly in the Antipodes, they represent nothing short of revolution in the Northern Hemisphere.

The switch from a winter to summer season and the adoption of full-time professionalism has transformed the way the game is played in Britain.

A sport widely perceived as the preserve of beer-bellied northern plodders with fetishes for smog has become a haven of athletic prowess.

Not only do Britain's players run around with the sun on their backs, many of them do so on pristine surfaces at shining new stadia, which make Mt Smart look third-world by comparison.

When former Kiwis stalwart Robbie Paul joined Bradford as a 17-year-old in 1995, the club had on its books just a handful of, mainly foreign, full time professionals.

Today, Super League clubs typically carry around 30 full time pros, as well as operating semi-professional academies at under-17 through to under-21 level.

Most of this British touring party have been fulltime pros since their mid-teens.

Just two players remain from the squad that toured New Zealand in 1996; centre Keith Senior and prop Adrian Morley.

The financial ruin of the disastrous 2000 World Cup has meant British teams have hardly left their own shores for the best part of a decade. This current crop of players knows that, if they fail, they probably won't be back for a second chance.

They will be well-drilled, highly-skilled and supremely motivated. The Kiwis will take them lightly at their peril.


1: The coach

Name: Brian Noble
* Age: 45
* Honours (as coach): three Super League titles, three World Club Challenges, one Challenge Cup
* Record as GB coach: v Australia: P5 W1 L4; v New Zealand: P5 W4 L1

A former Bradford policeman and Lions captain, Noble - Nobby to his friends - has an unrivalled record among coaches on either side of the world.

After taking over at Bradford in 2001, where he played more than 400 first grade games as a feisty hooker, he guided them to five successive grand finals, winning three. When he switched to Wigan mid-season, the Lancashire giant had won just two of 11 games and was languishing six points adrift at the foot of the table.

Under Noble, the club won 10 of its final 12 matches to comfortably avoid relegation.

Noble grew up on the mean streets of Bradford and freely admits that, had it not been for Police Boys Rugby League Club, he may have chosen another path in life. A deep thinker in a game not overly blessed with them, he is fond of prefacing statements with the phrase "the reality is".

The reality is that, under Noble, Great Britain have won four of their five encounters with the Kiwis, the last two by a combined margin of 84-26. Forget talk of weakened teams and poor preparation, the points are on the board. Besides, two weeks before last years Tri-Nations final, when it really did matter, the Lions hammered the Kiwis 38-12.

When the 2002 tour of Great Britain is factored in the Kiwis have won just one of their last seven against the Lions. Perhaps the one crumb of comfort in those stats is that the Kiwis' sole victory came in London, which is as near as they've had to a home game against Britain since 1999. So when Noble says: "We are confident of beating New Zealand", he means it.


2: The captain

Jamie Peacock
* Position: Prop/second row
* Age: 28
* Height: 1.95m
* Weight: 101kg
* Caps: 19
* Honours: Three Super League grand final victories, three World Club Challenge victories, two Challenge Cup victories, 2003 Man of Steel

Now in his second year as Great Britain captain, Peacock was elevated to the position after St Helens lock Paul Sculthorpe was ruled out of last year's tournament with a knee injury, which continues to keep him out of the side.

Despite his impressive size and work rate, Peacock was never tipped for the top. As a junior, he never achieved representative honours and was overlooked by his hometown club, Leeds Rhinos, signing instead as an unheralded teenager with Bradford.

"I'm not the most naturally-talented player," Peacock said after picking up the Man of Steel award for Super League's most valuable player in 2003.

"I guess it just comes down to hard work."

Peacock possesses tremendous leg drive, an occasional offload and is a punishing but economical defender.

A leader straight out of the 'do as I do' school, he has an uncomplicated approach . But, despite his reputation as a man of relatively few words, many of which are barely comprehensible due to his thick Yorkshire drawl, he isn't afraid to speak his mind and is more than capable of producing the odd memorable quote. Following one particularly testy clash with Widnes in which the match officials botched a number of crucial calls, Peacock, knowing full-well he would be censured and fined, publicly branded the state of refereeing in Super League a "disgrace" and lambasted touch judges as "cowards in a man's game".

He is also, presumably, the first British captain to mark the beginning of his reign with the immortal words: "I got kneed in the balls", after news he had come within a whisker of losing a testicle to a stray knee in the 2005 grand final leaked out ahead of a press conference to officially announce his appointment.


3: The halfback

Sean Long
* Age: 30.
* Height: 1.76m.
* Weight: 85kg.
* Caps: 11.
* Honours: Four Super League titles, three Challenge Cups, 2000 Man of Steel winner, three-time winner of Lance Todd trophy for man-of-the-match in Challenge Cup final

A will-o'-the-wisp character who has somehow avoided being locked up for crimes against hair-dressing, Long has never quite transferred his prodigious talents from the domestic to international game.

He has provided the creative spark during a sustained period of success for St Helens but, somewhat incredibly for a player rated the best in the British game six years ago, and who this year made history by becoming the only player to have won the prestigious Lance Todd trophy three times, Long has failed to maintain a firm hold on the Lions' number seven jersey.

Many, but not all, of his problems, have been of his own making. In 2004, for instance, he missed half a season due to a ban for his part in a betting scandal.

Long was then absent for last year's Tri-Nations after having his jaw shattered by a wild elbow from international team-mate Terry Newton during a club game. His return this year is an undoubted boost for the Lions.

Not quite a British version of Andrew Johns, Long at least bares comparison with Stacey Jones in his prime. A devastating runner with an astute kicking game, his Achilles heel can be his defence.

Long's biggest failing has been his big-match temperament. Playing on his home ground, Knowsley Rd, in the June test, he carved the Kiwis up at will, scoring two tries.

But the Kangaroos, in particular, have been able to get to him physically and get inside his head. After a 2003 Ashes test blighted by missed tackles and shanked shots at goal, Long admitted he didn't like the pressure of goal kicking at international level. He was dumped for the next test. Long is probably only one poor performance from being relegated to the bench. But he is more than capable of winning a match almost single-handedly.


4: The X-factor

Danny McGuire
* Position: Stand-off
* Age: 23
* Height: 1.78m
* Weight: 82kg
* Caps: 6
* Honours: One Super League Grand Final victory, one World Club Challenge victory

Considering he can't tackle, hardly ever makes a line break and isn't a great distributor, McGuire might seem a curious player to fear.

But the lively stand-off has one thing that makes people sit up and take notice - the X-factor.

Undoubtedly the best support player in the British game, McGuire's ability to collect an offload and score from anywhere on the paddock is unrivalled. In open space his pace and evasion skills come into their own.

The darling of the British media and hailed as a potential Lions saviour, McGuire has scored a remarkable 87 tries in the past three seasons.

Like Long, he missed last year's campaign due to injury, but is expected to be a factor this time around.

His breakout season came in 2004 when he scored 39 tries, including the match-winner for Leeds in their grand final victory over Bradford.

But McGuire's introduction to the international game has been measured.

He is more often than not used from the bench, and even then sparingly. McGuire has been named at stand-off for tomorrow night but it's uncertain whether he has the full confidence of his coach.

If McGuire fails in Christchurch, he could be replaced by the more dependable Richard Horne.

The two tries McGuire scored against the Kiwis in the June test after getting the start at six suggest his star could be on the rise and the calls in the media for his permanent elevation have reached a crescendo.

Those calls have been answered and McGuire has been given a chance. If he seizes it the Kiwis could be in for a long night.


5: The pack leader

Stuart Fielden
* Position: Prop
* Age: 27
* Height: 1.88m
* Weight: 112kg
* Caps: 23
* Honours: three Super League grand final victories, three World Club Challenge victories, one Challenge Cup

Despite being a relative unknown Downunder, Fielden is the best prop in the world.

At 1.88m and 112kg with a body fat percentage lower than Kate Moss, Fielden is one mean hombre.

Consistently ranked as the world's number two prop behind Shane Webcke, Fielden now has a legitimate claim to inherit the title.

A key part in Bradford's five years of success, he followed Brian Noble to Wigan and was at least as a big a factor in the club's revival.

An intense character, Fielden enjoys fantasy novels, standing too close to journalists during interviews and bashing Australians.

His physique and full-throttle approach to the game has led some Australian opponents to unfairly describe stopping him as like trying to tackle former Melbourne Storm drug cheat Rodney Howe. But any suggestion steroids are the secret to Fielden's success are laughable.

As a rule, Fielden spends at least 30 minutes doing extras after training. The sight of Fielden mercilessly practising his tackling technique on an unfortunate assistant coach long after his last team-mate has rolled out of the car park is far from uncommon.

In September 2004, Fielden's feud with Aussie veteran Jason Smith boiled over in brutal fashion.

The two had history, with Fielden having served a suspension for a raised knee in a tackle that left himself with wrecked ligaments and Smith with a season-ending shoulder injury.

When Bradford travelled to Hull the following year, Fielden flattened Smith in a crunching spot tackle. Smith had to leave the field and the enraged crowd bayed for Fielden's blood.

In the second half, Smith returned, bent on revenge. Twice he lashed out at Fielden in the play-the-ball without getting a reaction. Smith wasn't so lucky on the third occasion, however, as Fielden threw the ball away and unleashed a hail of blows that left Smith's face resembling raw hamburger. Smith left the field and did not return.

"Jason's a great player and a great bloke," Fielden said after the match. "It was nothing personal."

Truly scary.