McGuire hoping to feature in crunch clash

Stand-off Danny McGuire, booed off the pitch during England's 26-16 defeat by Australia, is urging coach Tony Smith to give him the chance to turn the jeers to cheers in Saturday's crunch Gillette Four Nations clash with New Zealand.

The Leeds number six, the most experienced member of a youthful back division, has had a different half-back partner for England's opening games against France and Australia, but now finds himself under pressure to keep his place after a below-par performance at Wigan.

"I was disappointed with some areas of my game last week but I know what I need to do to put things right and hope Tony gives me a chance to help the boys build on what we did in the second half last Saturday," said McGuire.

"We put a lot of pressure on Australia and, although we should have done better than we did, we took a lot of confidence from that performance.

"Our job now is to carry on where we left off and show what we can do over the full 80 minutes. We all know we only have this one match to get it right and that's what we're determined to do."

The Kiwis are firm favourites to clinch a final duel with Australia after getting the better of a 20-20 draw with the Kangaroos in their opening Four Nations game and beating France convincingly at the weekend.

McGuire was in the England side that lost to a Benji Marshall-inspired New Zealand in the World Cup semi-final last November, but he has no doubts that the Kiwis are beatable.

"They are a fantastic team with a lot of dangerous players and we know we have to be at our best to beat them, but belief and ability are not things we're short of," he added.

"Their captain, Benji Marshall, is a very exciting player who can create a lot of opportunities for the players around him. We have to watch him closely but that's the case for all the Kiwis.

"If we defend like we did in the second half against Australia and show the same kind of fluency in attack, then we know we'll be in with a shout."