Chase battles through tough examination but has no hard feelings

The mercurial half-back says he is now ready to help ruin Australian superstar Darren Lockyer’s farewell appearance and make history for his adopted country in Saturday’s Elland Road finale.

The last time the national side won a major tournament was as Great Britain in the 1972 World Cup while England have not taken a series victory over Australia since two years before then.

However, they have the opportunity to end that long drought when facing the Kangaroos this weekend.

They lost to Australia at Wembley nine days ago and their opponents are huge favourites to take the title in Lockyer’s final match before the Queensland great retires.

But, after a convicing 28-6 triumph over world champions New Zealand, Castleford Tigers’ Chase said: “Everyone’s talking about Darren Lockyer but I’m not really bothered about him.

“We’ve got our focus and that’s to win and make some history here that England deserves because no one really gives us a chance.

“New Zealand were favourites tonight and we blew them away. We just need to focus on us and who cares what other people say about the occasion?

“We’ve stepped up every week and have just got to step up another notch. We came close last week against Australia and the scoreline didn’t reflect that but the belief in this group is unbelievable and we know there’s more to come.”

Chase, who played for the Junior Kiwis before swapping allegiance to England last month, was quietly efficient in Saturday’s stunning victory, ignoring a series of clear attempts by his fellow countrymen to rile him.

New Zealand captain Benji Marshall, who described his old schoolmate as his “brother” beforehand, twice squared up to Chase while Issac Luke was put on report for a deliberate twisting of his leg after a tackle.

“He (Benji) was giving me a hard time but I expected that,” he said, walking out of Hull’s KC Stadium with Marshall’s jersey in his hand.

“As soon as I put allegiance to England I knew this would happen – they’d be fired up and want to have a go at me.

“In a way it’s a good thing that they’re trying to put me off my game but it was hard not to react. I managed at half-time to keep cool and get on with the job.

“I’m here to play rugby not start fights but what happens on the field stays on the field.

“I’m not sure what he (Luke) did but they’re going to give it to me every time they play me. I know that.

“The main thing was we stuck to our game plan, were very disciplined and composed and it was a great team performance from everyone.

“Now we’ve got to improve again versus Australia.”

The fixture, which the impressive hosts controlled throughout, was played in front of a crowd of 23,447, the largest ever between England and New Zealand.

Meanwhile, the Kiwis will find out today whether Luke and Jeremy Smith – also put on report for an alleged forearm against the irrepressible Sam Tomkins – will face punishment for their actions during a wildly ill-disciplined display.