England v New Zealand: Sense of injustice motivates England for decider

The under-pressure national side take on the Kiwis at Wigan on Saturday in a winner-takes-all third and final Test.

The scene has been set following last weekend’s disappointing 9-2 loss against the world’s No1 side, a reverse that left the series all square.

However, Burgess, the South Sydney prop, admits England are irked that James Graham had a ‘try’ ruled out in the latter stages at London’s Olympic Stadium that could have seen them already home and hosed.

“I think he did get downward pressure,” said the Dewsbury-born forward, with reference to Graham latching on to Josh Hodgson’s kick when trailing 8-2.

“And the ref did give the try on the field so, in my opinion, unless there’s concrete evidence he’s not scored, it should have been given.

“It’s a tough pill to take but we wouldn’t have won the game with that and we can’t blame it all on that. Obviously, though, there’s a bit of motivation now for next week; we’ll be coming back with a lot to play for.”

Burgess, 23, was arguably one of the few England players to emerge from the second Test with his reputation enhanced.

Steve McNamara will certainly need the giant front-row at his charging, robust best on Saturday if they are to defeat the Four Nations champions at a sold-out DW Stadium.

On the opportunity to secure only a second series win over the Kiwis in 22 years, the former Bradford Bulls player conceded: “It is massive – there’s a lot at stake. We’d have liked to have taken it on Saturday but it didn’t happen so we have to move on to next week, train well and just get everything right.

“Then we’ll come to a full house over in Wigan and I’m sure it will be a good game.

“New Zealand probably improved their D (defence) a little bit last weekend but, saying that, I think our attack was a bit off.

“We weren’t as fluent in good ball areas and that’s something we have to improve on Saturday but we’re definitely very confident we can get the job done.”

Pack colleague Brett Ferres knows places could be up for grabs after England failed to build on the impressive 26-12 opening win at Hull.

“I don’t know (if there will be changes) but obviously we’ve got a fantastic squad of 23 players and they all deserve a shot,” said the Huddersfield Giants second-row, McNamara having kept the same 17 for all three games so far, including the 84-4 rout of France.

“There’s been consistency in selection so far but there may be room for improvement in that.”

England failed to fire in attack with the likes of Leeds Rhinos three-quarters Kallum Watkins and Ryan Hall barely getting a running opportunity against the Kiwis.

It was the first time England had failed to score a try since losing 22-2 to Australia in the 2000 World Cup.

Ferres, who had scored five times in the opening two games this autumn, conceded: “It was weird. We defended more than we attacked at the weekend.

“We’ve some fantastic attacking players out wide but just didn’t utilise that.

“We just didn’t seem to click and that’s where we struggled.

“We looked a little out of sorts whereas the previous week we looked very sharp.

“We let ourselves down. We worked hard in defence, the desire was there and we defended our line very well, but we were there too often.

“We didn’t really recover from the try they scored at the start of the second half and we didn’t back ourselves.

“But it makes it a cracker for Saturday and a great game for rugby league. It’s sold out already and now it all comes down to this one match.”

Meanwhile, with a crowd of 44,393 attending rugby league’s first visit to the Olympic Stadium, the RFL may take a Four Nations game there next year although Liverpool’s Anfield ground is also thought to be in the reckoning.

n Leeds and England full-back Zak Hardaker is on a three-man short-list for the prestigious 2015 Golden Boot award.

The 2015 Super League Man of Steel hopes to emulate recently-departed Leeds captain Kevin Sinfield, who won the award in 2012.

Hardaker is vying with Australia half-back Johnathan Thurston, who has twice won the Golden Boot, and New Zealand full-back Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.