Mistakes need to be avoided if Australia are to fall

Many would argue Steve McNamara's tourists were already too conservative in losing 24-10 against New Zealand, an opening defeat which has left them requiring an unlikely success over the defending champions in Melbourne on Sunday to have any chance of progressing to the final.

Indeed, England's best spells came when they decided to play with some adventure, ditched the one-up style and actually realised the Kiwis should not be feared; if that tactic had been adopted from the off, they might not now find themselves in such a perilous position.

"It's a different kind of game over here," said St Helens hooker James Roby yesterday.

"You have to be more patient, complete your sets and in a way be a little more boring.

"We didn't stick with it at times last Saturday and let ourselves down. We know we can't afford to make the same mistakes again."

However, the errors England made did not stem from over-ambitious handling, rather simple unforced mistakes under little pressure.

The usually reliable Roby, Stuart Fielden and Sam Burgess all coughed up easy ball to gift their opponents chance to build an 18-0 lead.

England were also strangely lacking aggression, their kicking game offered no platform and, if they perform similarly against Australia, they will be vanquished.

McNamara insists there will be no more hesitation though and reminded everyone yesterday that the majority of his squad had not suffered any psychologically scarring defeats at the hands of the fabled Kangaroos.

Fielden is the only player who featured in Great Britain's record 64-10 mauling in Sydney in 2002, while there are only three survivors from England's embarrassing 52-4 World Cup rout in Melbourne two years ago.

Gareth Ellis, Roby and new captain James Graham will have vivid memories of that nine-try hammering but the squad has been distinctly overhauled since.

Many of the new arrivals did face Australia in last year's final and competed impressively for an hour before falling away. Earlier in that competition, at Wigan, they trailed 26-0 at half-time before battling back to 26-16. However, it is now a requisite that they must deliver an 80-minute performance against Australia who thrashed Papua New Guinea 42-0 on Sunday.

"We need to be able to apply that pressure and soak it up at the same time," said McNamara.

"It's been a while since we've done that against Australia.

"We've managed to do it in one-off Tests but trying to do it twice in a series has been an issue for us. This group of players is very young and with that is some slight inexperience, but there is no fear whatsoever.

"There is no previous history for a lot of these people and, with Gareth Ellis, Sam Burgess and Brian Smith in particular being on our staff we get a real insight into how these teams operate.

"We're trying to address those issues in a number of areas and hopefully you will see that happen this week."

There will be changes with Castleford's Michael Shenton – who enjoyed his best international game as he cut loose during England's brief second-half fightback – out due to an ankle injury.

Huddersfield's Leroy Cudjoe could earn a debut, vying for a place with Harlequins' Tony Clubb, or McNamara might switch Wigan's Darrell Goulding – who impressed on debut against the Kiwis – to centre and recall Leeds winger Ryan Hall after his own hamstring injury.

Alternatively, he could reshuffle his backline with Sam Tomkins going to full-back, Halifax-born Melbourne star Gareth Widdop to centre and Huddersfield's Luke Robinson starting at scrum-half.

Regardless, McNamara was encouraged by his team's second-half performance against New Zealand.

"We dipped our toe in the water to see how cold it was rather than getting stripped off and diving in there at the deep end," he said.

"We were a little bit tentative, a bit edgy, but we grew as the game wore on and I think the players will have gained a great deal of confidence from that.

"If we had played our best and got turned over, then obviously we would have had an issue but we feel there is a lot of improvement in us."

But Roby was spot on when he concluded: "We have flown all this way to try and win the competition.

"This weekend is a perfect opportunity for us to show what we can do but there are no excuses; we know that if we don't win we will be going home before the final."