Discipline is the key for England in do-or-die encounter – Sinfield

England pivot Kevin Sinfield insists they will thrive on the new-found sudden-death aspect of their delicately-balanced Gillette Four Nations campaign.

The influential Leeds Rhinos stand-off is a key figure as they take on world champions New Zealand in Hull on Saturday knowing only a win will see them proceed to the Elland Road final.

After victory over Wales and their controversial 36-20 defeat against Australia, nothing less will do if they want to have a second stab at the Kangaroos in Leeds.

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The sides are level on points difference but, if it ended a draw, the Kiwis would qualify due to a superior points percentage.

However, Sinfield, who knows all about the pressure of knock-out football following the Rhinos’ remarkable run to Grand Final success, believes England have the requisite temperament to make sure of their place.

The crucial key will be cutting out the needless errors which damaged their chances of overcoming a sketchy Australia.

“We won’t think about anything further down the line,” he said.

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“It’s all about the Kiwis now and it is do or die for us. It’s a straight knockout.

“Hopefully, we can continue beyond this next week but we’ve got to turn up and improve again.

“We can take some confidence from Saturday. At times we troubled the Aussies and it’d be great to get another crack at them.

“But we know we’ve got to do better. We needed to improve a whole lot on what we did against Wales and we weren’t quite there in some areas.

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“We know the standard now. I thought we troubled the Aussies in some aspects but we weren’t disciplined enough and paid the price.”

Indeed, rarely have England, or Great Britain for that matter, played so enterprisingly against Australia as they did at Wembley last weekend.

Sinfield, who started well alongside Rangi Chase, switched to loose-forward in the second period to accommodate the lively Gareth Widdop, and probed away continually threatening the line.

He knows the jury is still out on him and Chase at half-back but he said: “I felt we improved again.

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“No doubt people will fire some bullets at us but that’s part and parcel of it. We worked hard in training again all week and some things didn’t quite come off.

“Gaz Widdop came on and played six and I went to 13 when things got moved around because of some of the injuries we got but we’ll continue to work on it.

“I don’t know what the selection will be for the Kiwis but I thought for large parts of that game we played some good stuff.

“We’ve just got to cut out some of the ill-discipline with and without the ball and we’ll be better all around. There’s definitely a lot of improvement in us.”

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England, who are delaying the announcement of their side as Jamie Peacock, Gareth Ellis and James Graham bid to recover from injury, have experience of triumphing in such games.

They were in the same position against the Kiwis in 2009 when, with Sinfield kicking four goals, they won 20-12 at Huddersfield.

They also defeated New Zealand on their last visit to Hull with a record-breaking 44-0 success during the 2007 Test series, Sinfield again boasting a 100 per cent record with the boot, and won 26-24 in a 2004 Tri Nations decider.

However, Stephen Kearney’s side are Four Nations holders as well as world champions, and are rightly deemed a far more malevolent force.

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Sinfield added: “We know what a great side New Zealand are. We can’t mope about Saturday, we’ve got to get our chins up and graft and put things right. They are the current Four Nations champions and the world champions so we’re going to come up against a very good side.

“I thought we made some strides again against Australia but they weren’t as big as they needed to be to get the win.”

Sinfield refused to use contentious refereeing decisions as an excuse. “Calls tend to even themselves out,” he said. “We copped a few but we did enough to ourselves that made it difficult. That’s something we’re looking at now to put right for New Zealand.”

Sinfield hopes club colleague Peacock will be passed fit after the England captain shrugged off an early knee injury against Australia.

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“Jamie’s a warrior, our leader,” he said. “I saw him crumple in that tackle and knew something wasn’t right but to lose three big players – JP, Gaz Ellis and James Graham – made it tough for us.

“For Jamie to put some strapping on and come back out like he did shows the warrior he is and it means so much to us.”