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Australia prop David Klemmer is preparing for a bruising battle with NRL club team-mate James Graham at London’s Olympic Stadium.
Klemmer is captained by Graham at the Canterbury Bulldogs and made his Test debut for the Kangaroos against him two years ago. The two front rowers will go head to head in a much-anticipated forward contest on Sunday.
“England are a quality side with a world-class forward pack,” Klemmer said.
“As a forward pack we just try and do our best every week. England will want to stay alive in this tournament so it’s going to be a big game for us this week.”
Klemmer said it will be up to him and fellow substitute Shannon Boyd to slow down England’s bench twins Thomas and George Burgess.
“They’re big bodies and hard to contain,” he said.
“As a forward pack we’ve got a big task, whoever gets selected next week. We’ll have to get numbers in the tackle. If you let them start rolling around it lets the team play footy, and we can’t let them do that because that’s how they win footy games. They’ll be doing their best for their side.”
Klemmer won his eighth cap for Australia in the 14-8 victory against New Zealand at the Ricoh Arena on Saturday. The 22-year-old said he is enjoying the tour and playing alongside stars like Cameron Smith and Johnathan Thurston.
“I love it. Getting to play over here is pretty special,” he said.
“In this team you’ve got guys in 10, 20 years time who will be Immortals. They’re world-class players. I’m just lucky to play with them.
“We’re just trying to improve as a team. We were a bit scrappy at times against the Kiwis, so we’ve got to play a bit better and control the footy a lot more.”
