League: Paul says Kiwis can counter giant British pack

Bradford skipper Robbie Paul says he has plenty of respect for Great Britain, especially his English Super League clubmates in the side.

But he also believes the Kiwis will have the strikepower to match them at Huddersfield.

Paul said the Lions showed in their last-minute loss to Australia last weekend that they were physical and competitive.

The Kiwi hooker added that the input of the Bradford trio of man-of-the-match Stuart Fielden, fellow forward Jamie Peacock and winger Stuart Reardon in the 12-8 defeat was "immense".

He described the British pack as one of their biggest for some time.

"I know those guys and they're good," he said.

"But as I look around at our team, I see some amazing athletes. We have the strike power to handle them, but also to take it a step forward. It just depends on the way we play on the night."

Paul said he couldn't predict how the encounter at Galpharm Stadium would pan out. "But we will be up for this game," he said.

"We know where we are in the tournament.

"We know that, in this sort of situation, we have to perform well."

With one point from their two tests against Australia, New Zealand would ideally want to come away with the win but a draw would mean their fate was still in their own hands.

Their last round-robin match against Great Britain is at Hull on November 20, a week after the Lions play the Kangaroos at Wigan.


Of the Kiwis, Paul, who has lived in England for the past 10 years, is the most familiar with the British players.

He said a feature of this year's Lions - coached by his club coach, Brian Noble - was that they had greater depth in numbers.

"Over the last couple of years, they've been trying to fill in the gaps with guys who don't normally play those positions, but this year they have pretty much a full-strength squad."


Paul did not expect the Lions, or their coach, to have any lingering mental scars from the cruel manner of their defeat by the Kangaroos.

"Nobby is a positive person and he will see this as a challenge," he said.

"Even though he would be immensely disappointed with the last few seconds of that game, I know he would have seen the plus points. He would really have tried to hammer home to the boys that, not only did they compete in that game, they should have won it."

Meanwhile, Paul said he agreed with the way that Noble had handled young Leeds five-eighth Danny McGuire, by introducing him slowly to test level.


McGuire, 21, got the biggest cheer of the night when he came off the bench against Australia to gain his first cap and many home fans would like to see him in the starting XIII against New Zealand.

He scored 39 tries in the Super League this season, sharing a record with Bradford and Kiwi winger Lesley Vainikolo.

Paul said being thrown in at the deep end straight away could make a career, "but it can kill your career at the same time, as we've seen in big games before".

- NZPA