England wing Ryan Hall is certain that his side can stay in contention to win Rugby League World Cup 2013 by following their victory over Ireland with another win when they face Fiji at the KC Stadium, Hull, on Saturday (2:30pm).
The sides meet for their final game in Group A on Saturday afternoon when England will look to secure their place in the Quarter-Finals after an impressive 42-0 defeat of Ireland, and 25-year-old Hall knows the most important work will be down before the match kicks off.
“We go in to the game against Fiji with a lot of confidence after the result against Ireland,” said Hall.
“We know it will be a different game playing against them, but before each match we do our preview on the opposition and that is exactly what we will do for Fiji so that we can work out a game plan to give us the best chance of winning.”
Following an impressive performance against Mark Aston’s Wolfhounds, Hall, who is now RLWC2013’s joint-leading try scorer with four touch downs alongside Samoa’s Antonio Winterstein, hopes they can take their positive momentum into the weekend.
“Our game went to plan perfectly against Ireland,” said Hall. “We got the win and to do it to nil is obviously very pleasing.
“Throughout the match we kept our defensive shape well and we were clinical going forward as well, so for us there are huge positives to take from the game.
“I am happy with how I played, I managed to get into some good positions and as a team we got the early tries that we wanted.
“We knew a quick start was important to get rid of any lingering nerves, so to win like we did was just what we needed.
“Everyone had a great game against Ireland. On my side in particular I thought that Leroy Cudjoe and Brett Ferres both had fantastic matches – every time I managed to find a bit of space they found me and you can’t really ask for much more than that.”
England head coach Steve McNamara has named his 19 man squad to play Fiji at KC Stadium on Saturday (14:30) (professional club and community club in brackets)
Carl Ablett (Leeds Rhinos, Hunslet Parkside)
Tom Briscoe (Hull FC, Featherstone Lions)
George Burgess (South Sydney Rabbitohs, Dewsbury Moor)
Sam Burgess (South Sydney Rabbitohs, Dewsbury Moor)
Rob Burrow (Leeds Rhinos, Featherstone Lions)
Rangi Chase (Castleford Tigers, Dannevirke Tigers)
Leroy Cudjoe (Huddersfield Giants, Newsome Panthers)
Liam Farrell (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks)
Brett Ferres (Huddersfield Giants, Smawthorne Panthers)
James Graham (Canterbury Bulldog, Blackbrook)
Ryan Hall (Leeds Rhinos, Oulton Raiders)
Chris Hill (Warrington Wolves, New Spring Lions)
Michael McIlorum (Wigan Warriors, Queens)
Lee Mossop (Wigan Warriors, Hensingham)
Sean O’Loughlin (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks)
Kevin Sinfield (captain) (Leeds Rhinos, Waterhead)
Sam Tomkins (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Patricks)
Kallum Watkins (Leeds Rhinos, Latchford Albion)
Ben Westwood (Warrington Wolves, Normanton Knights)
By Josh Barrowcliff
