The Kiwis were crippled by injuries in the 2012 internationals vs Australia.

It is to be hoped that New Zealand, Australia and England will all be at full strength for the World Cup.

Below is a full strength Kiwi team, with Sonny Bill Williams included. It is not certain that SBW will play, given his boxing career. However let us assume that he does.

In my opinion it will be very difficult for England to defeat this team, and it will even be difficult for Australia, especially if Benji Marshall and Sonny Bill Willliams are in top form.

The Kiwi forward pack is probably the best in the world, notwithstanding the fact that Cameron Smith is the best hooker in the world.


[iKevin Locke

Jason Nightingale, Shaun Kenny-Dowell, Krisnan Inu, Sam Perrett

Benji Marshall
Kieran Foran

Simon Mannering
Sonny Bill Williams, Frank Pritchard,
Ben Matulino, Isaac Luke, Sam Kasiano.[/i

InterchangeJared Wharea-Hargreaves, Sam McKendry, Greg Eastwood, Kevin Proctor [/i


ReservesJosh Hoffman, Gerard Beale, Manu Vatuvei, Jerome Ropati, Shaun Johnson, Jeremy Smith, Jesse Bromwich, Alex Glenn, Elijah Taylor, Adam Blair, Thomas Leuluai, Russell Packer, Sam Rapira. [/i

SBW will be long gone come the World Cup!

We don't know what the NRL salary cap will be in 2014. If it is raised higher than 2013 then SBW may stay in the NRL and play in the World Cup.

(Moreover, in my opinion all Test match players -- from Australia, NZ and England at least -- should receive a decent wage for playing at what should be the highest level. No less than AU$20,000 per game IMO).

So you would advocate paying AU$3.7m to the Australia, NZ and English players in the World Cup? Is that really a reasonable use of limited resources in the game?

Does that extend to 4 Nations games? Where does the money come from?

You make a valid point regarding the WC, given 3 pool games a quarter final and a semi final likely for each nation.

In that case I would probably cut the payment in half for the pool games (AU$10,000 each game), then $15,000 for the quarter final, and $20,000 for the semi final and final.

The payments could come from the TV contract money or corporate sponsorship.

As for the 4 Nations I would make it $10,000 for each round and $20,000 for the final, with payments coming from TV contract or corporate sponsors.

If these games, or at least the openers, semi-final and final are on BBC it should be easy to get a generous corporate sponsor for each nation.

We shouldn't have to FORCE Sonny to play for his country. If he's really that motivated by money, he can sod off in my opinion. Kiwi's don't need him.

He will indeed.

I'll be surprised if he isn't injured.

Nobody has so far been willing to suggest that England could beat the first choice Kiwi team with SBW playing.

Here is the probable Kiwi Reserve team.

[iJosh Hoffman,

Gerard Beale, Jerome Ropati, Ben Henry, Manu Vatuvei,

Lance Hohaia
Shaun Johnson,

Jeremy Smith,
Adam Blair, Alex Glenn,
Russell Packer, Thomas Leuluai, Roy Asotasi, [/i

InterchangeAaron Heremia, Elijah Taylor, Jesse Bromwich, Sam Rapira.[/i

Could England beat this team?

Probably.

Unless Shaun Johnson turns on a display of his best form, in which case the Kiwis could win.

This second team selection I have made shows just how much depth New Zealand now has. It also raises the problem of the weakness of the English halves options.

The Kiwis are a hot and cold side, not as much as they used to be, but still inconsistent.
At home they are hard to beat, they do not travel to the North well it seems.
The draw against the Aussies in last years four Nations was one of the toughest arm wrestles I have seen recently.
Then they played England and it was a penalty and mistakeathon.
On their day they are World Champions, the fact they have only beaten Australia a couple of times in 20 games suggests their day is not frequent enough. (They have picked their days well)

It's something of an assumption to assume that SBW will return to Rugby League and be the player he once was.

He has returned to League already with the Roosters.

Yeah I meant assume he will instantly be the same player he was. There's plenty who have returned and have been disappointing.

Im confident england could beat that team , especially if hohaia is playing stand-off. We have some pack , arguably one to match the aussies but we struggle in the backs

I think the qualilty of our backs is improving. Tomkins, Hall and any of several other wingers from Broughton, to Briscoe to Jones-Buchanan to Makinson are decent. We have a good reserve fullback/utility player in Hardacre. In the centres Cudjoe is big, fast and powerful as is Atkins and Lawrence is also decent. Shenton was good until his recent injuries also.

In the halves we have Chase, Myler, Gaskell, Sinfield, Brough, Maguire and the little scrum half from Saints whose name I cannot remember. This is way better than when we had to play Farrell at stand off and there was no replacement option.

Those are a little short of the Inglis's and Ropartis of this world but they are definitely better than we have had in recent years.

This may only be an issue if they make the final. As I read the groupings, if England come second in Group A and NZ win group B then we would only play NZ in the final. I'm assuming that we come second because Aus win Group A.