Huddersfield Giants' Nathan Brown: Conditions must be right for England to beat Australia in Tri-Nations final

Nov 14 2009 by Chris Roberts, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Nathan Brown: Conditions must be right for England to beat Australia in Tri-Nations final

But Australia coach Tim Sheens is confident his players’ State of Origin experience will swing the final his side’s way.

Sheens is anticipating a close-fought final and is confident his side can last the pace better than their Super League opponents.

“Most of my players have played State of Origin,” he said.

“They know what it’s like in a very tough series to keep playing for 80 minutes.

“Queensland and New South Wales have both won and lost games in the last five minutes. It will be an 80-minute effort from both sides, there’s no doubt about that.

“It doesn’t matter whether there’s two points or 20 in it, no one is going to stop playing, there’s too much pride in both groups for that.

“So it will be a very intense game and, if there is a need to draw on any experience, our guys can play at that level and they will need to in order to beat a much-improved England side.”

Sheens, who has spoken in glowing terms about England’s performance against New Zealand, is planning to increase his team’s potency by bringing international player of the year Jarryd Hayne more into the game.

The Parramatta full-back has been largely anonymous on the right wing in Australia’s three group matches, with left winger Brett Morris capitalising on the flow of possession to score four tries so far.

Of the 16 tries Australia have scored in the tournament, 12 have come down the left and Hayne, who has yet to open his account, is set to get in on the act by switching flanks and lining up alongside the equally dangerous Greg Inglis.

“We’ve looked at both options and I’ll make a decision after training,” said Sheens.