England and Samoa are set for a rematch of their opening game today in the Rugby League World Cup semi-finals at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium.
England won their meeting in the tournament’s opening game 60-6 in a game they were underdogs for.
Now they are favourites against a side full of star players including those who have recently won the NRL with the Penrith Panthers such as Jarome Luai.
However, England and former Wigan Warriors boss Shaun Wane is very aware that Samoa will be a different proposition as the side has evolved over the weeks even beating a very strong Tonga team last week.
Speaking on Fox League, the England boss revealed that he believes there’s some areas he thinks England must improve from last time and revealed the player he expects to nulify the threat of Samoa’s big men: “I know Samoa will be hurting after the first game, they’ll be a different animal this week and with the amount of Aussie grand final players in their team they’re going to be a lot better, a lot more of a challenge.
“There’s some details in defence that can improve.
“The detail in contact on the big men. The fact is we’re not very big, we’re not the biggest nation in this competition. We’re up against NRL players that are far bigger so we need to be good at our detail.
“That’s where Victor Radley comes in. We need to be good on the floor, I believe the game is won or lost on the floor — both attack and defence.”
