KEY POINTS:
BRISBANE - England speedster Ade Gardner is drawing on his rugby league experiences against one giant Kiwi winger as he prepares for a likely head-to-head clash with another on Saturday.
The St Helens star is expected to be recalled for the World Cup semifinal against New Zealand in
Brisbane, with the job of trying stop the wrecking ball feats of Manu Vatuvei.
Gardner was rested for the pool match between the two countries in Newcastle last weekend, when Vatuvei grabbed a World Cup record-equalling four tries as New Zealand came from behind to win 36-24.
Asked if he was relishing for the challenge of marking a player nicknamed the Beast, he replied with a laugh: "Why not?"
He had tackled former New Zealand and Bradford winger Lesley Vainikolo, dubbed the Volcano, "once or twice, so I'm looking forward to it".
Like Vatuvei, Vainikolo weighs in at 112kg, or 15kg more than Gardner.
Also like Vatuvei, he was a prolific scorer in his league career, with 14 tries in 12 appearances for the Kiwis, including nine in five matches at the last World Cup in 2000.
After switching codes and country, Vainikolo made his debut for the England rugby team this year.
Gardner pointed to pressure as the key to containing Vatuvei, whose four-try haul eclipsed the New Zealand World Cup record of three in a match that Vainikolo shared with 2000 tournament team-mate Robbie Paul.
"He's a big strong unit," Gardner said.
"I think it's about putting as much pressure on him as you can. But you can't think about him too much, or you'll forget about the others."
Gardner was one of a number of frontline players that coach Tony Smith rested last weekend and are set to strengthen the England line-up for the rematch with the Kiwis.
His centre partner will probably be Warrington's Martin Gleeson, who played at five-eighth in Newcastle.
The two were paired together in all three matches of Great Britain's series whitewash over New Zealand last year.
Gardner admitted that his form, like England's, had been "up and down" in a World Cup that had also brought a scare against Papua New Guinea and a drubbing from favourites Australia.
"I think we're still finding our feet and hopefully we'll put it all together on Saturday," he said.
"We struggled a bit with our systems when we got here, but I think they're starting to come together. It's one game now, the semifinal. If we don't get it together, we're going home, so it's a big incentive to get it done."
Gardner cited slower play-the-ball as the biggest adjustment the English had had to make since arriving in Australia.
"In Super League, the rucks are really quick, and here the rucks are really, really slow and sometimes attack-wise, you get on the back foot," he said.
"The Aussie and the Kiwi boys have the wrestle on the floor and the referees are giving them that extra second or two."
However, England had started to get to grips with doing the wrestle themselves, as they demonstrated against the Kiwis, who found themselves struggling to get quick play-the-ball.
"Against PNG we were a little poor, but then, even against Australia, despite the scoreline, we were pretty good on the floor," Gardener said.
"We wrestled them and slowed them down quite a bit."
- NZPA
