KEY POINTS:
BRISBANE - Team selection is adding an intriguing sub-plot to the Kiwis' showdown with England in Brisbane on Saturday for a place in the rugby league World Cup final.
While England and the two other semifinalists, Australia and Fiji, have named their squads, New Zealand coach Stephen Kearney hasn't, and is keeping open the timing for when he will.
Meanwhile, rival coach Tony Smith has sprung a surprise by retaining all but two of the 17 who let a 24-8 lead slip to a 36-24 defeat to the Kiwis in their pool match last weekend.
Smith rested five key players for the "dead rubber" in Newcastle, but only one of them, Leon Pryce, is recalled to the starting 13.
The most notable omission is that of winger Ade Gardner, whom team management made available to talk to the media on Tuesday and he gave his thoughts on going head-to-head with Manu Vatuvei, who bagged four tries last Saturday.
However, team lists don't have to be confirmed until a hour before kickoff, and an England spokesman said last night that he couldn't comment on whether the line-up named would be the one to take the field.
Gardner could end up playing anyway because of injury reasons.
Fullback Paul Wellens has been given until tomorrow to prove his fitness after picking up an ankle problem against the Kiwis, and Lee Smith would most likely move from wing if Wellens were unavailable.
Whatever their final make-up, England are looking to learn from their painful experience in Newcastle.
They have copped a load of criticism at home over their second-half capitulation and their coach said there was plenty of disappointment in the dressing room afterwards.
"There was a real filthiness about the whole situation," he said.
"We have to get filthy before it happens, so it doesn't happen."
Smith believed the turning point was the lengthy injury break shortly after England opened out their 16-point advantage.
Play was halted for seven minutes as Kiwi centre Steve Matai, felled while making what seemed an innocuous tackle, had his neck put in a brace and was stretchered from the field.
Smith had no complaints about the time it took to get Matai off, saying the proper precautions had to be taken.
But he said the stoppage came at a good time for the Kiwis "because we were on a bit of a roll" and "it probably sparked them up".
"Maybe if we had been able to keep that momentum going, it might have been a different story," he said.
"It's what happens in rugby league. To turn momentum is a difficult thing, and we have to learn how to do that."
Pryce's return means Martin Gleeson moves from five-eighth to his usual spot in the centres, with Paul Sykes dropping out of an expanded 19-man squad.
Of the others who sat out the loss to the Kiwis, prop James Graham and hooker James Roby are included on a six-man bench, from which two will drop out.
However, like Gardner, livewire half Danny McGuire misses out.
England have yet to fire in the tournament and Smith conceded his team had been below expectations, citing one reason as having to deal with different refereeing interpretations.
"There are no complaints about that," he said.
"We need to adjust and then make sure we're able to cope with all those adjustments. It's taken a little bit of time."
One Smith prediction came true yesterday with the announcement that Australian referee Shayne Hayne, and not a Northern Hemisphere official as Smith had wanted, would control the semifinal.
Hayne's appointment continues England's experience having an Australian referee for every one of their matches so far, including their pool encounter with the Kangaroos.
- NZPA
