Danny McGuire: Further improvement needed if we are to overcome Warriors

Leeds Rhinos stand-off Danny McGuire faces Wigan and England rival Sam Tomkins tomorrow buoyed by victory over Bradford Bulls but under no illusions at the size of the task ahead.

CONFIDENCE is the biggest thing in sport and we're playing well at the minute.

We're confident in what we're doing, especially after getting that win against Bradford, but Wigan are a great team and the form side in the competition.

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They have set the standard this year and to beat them we are going to have to improve quite a bit from what we turned out at Odsal on Sunday. We've been fine tuning a few things in training ready for them tomorrow but we will also be staying relaxed. That is the best way to approach the Challenge Cup. We aren't talking about it or putting pressure on ourselves anymore. We're just taking it as another game.

Obviously, it is hard to do that because of the history of the competition – you want to get to Wembley, you want to be involved in big days like that.

The last time Leeds won it was in 1999 and I'd just joined the Academy. It was my first year with them and we went down on a trip together with all the lads. It was a great day but it's been a long time since it's come back to this club.

We're in the quarter-final so there's a couple of hurdles in front but we are not thinking too far ahead. We have simply been taking it one game at a time.

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We're not getting caught up in the hoo-hah that comes with the Challenge Cup and it seems to be working for us. We're going to do that again this week and not build it up too much. We're just going to try and enjoy ourselves.

Wigan are playing really well. I don't think they signed anybody – apart from Paul Deacon – after last season but the squad has just improved out of sight under Michael Maguire.

He is very good and, coming from Melbourne Storm, has worked with one of the world's best coaches in Craig Bellamy.

He's transformed Wigan who attack with massive threats all over, some great half-backs and some good wide running back-rowers so it's going to be a tough task for us.

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But the good thing about the last few weeks is that our defence has started to shore up. We've been working hard on that and it's going to be tested a lot tomorrow.

It was great to get a hat-trick against Bradford but it was an amazing forward effort. We had three of our pack who didn't come back in the second half due to injuries so the rest of the forwards did really well, especially in that heat.

But Ryan Bailey, Carl Ablett and Greg Eastwood stood up and I was putting my hand up to take a few carries!

It just seems to be how things are going for us this year, injuries testing us and it's good for our character-building. It shows when times are tough the boys will dig in and come through it.

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Just as I'm not thinking about the Challenge Cup, I've not really thought about England either.

The squad for the France game is selected on Tuesday but I just want to keep performing for Leeds. You can't influence things outside of the team. The coaches make those decisions and you can only look after your own backyard and keep playing well. I'll keep trying to do that.

Interview by Dave Craven.