England's Inglis plans futile 

Source: PhotosportGreg Inglis

They've spent all week trying to find the kryptonite to nullify Australia's superman, but England coach Tony Smith concedes his side may struggle to stop Greg Inglis from running away with rugby league's Four Nations final.

Centre Inglis has been marked as the man England must shut down at Elland Road on Saturday night after he destroyed their right edge defence the last time the two teams two weeks ago.

While Australia are gearing to repel the giant English pack which sparked the home side to life in the second half of that 26-16 win in Wigan, their fears are nothing compared to those being created by Inglis.

The men facing their moment of truth for England are centre Chris Bridge and winger Peter Fox, neither of whom played in the Wigan match.

"I'm not making excuses for them but it's bloody hard when you've got high quality people coming at you with a lot in their armoury," Smith said of stopping Inglis.

"It looks simple, from the sidelines you'd think we'd be able to close it down, (but) it's not as easy as us onlookers probably think.

"Teams in Australia spend months and months preparing for those special sort of players but players like Inglis can still rip those plans apart when they play against them week-in and week-out."

The Inglis threat has only increased with coach Tim Sheens switching player of the year Jarryd Hayne to the left wing outside him.

Smith bravely claimed the move could backfire given Hayne hasn't played on the left wing since the State of Origin series, but Australian skipper Darren Lockyer had not doubt his outside backs could prevail is the Kangaroos pack matched it with the highly-rated English forwards.

"Giving the balls to guys like Inglis and Hodges and Hayne without any momentum, they're not going to be as effective," Lockyer said.

Australian coach Tim Sheens admitted England had benefited from a much tougher run-in to the final, with Australia's last-start win over France in Paris with a makeshift side resembling a training run at times.

England triumphed in a wet and wild 20-12 win over the world champion Kiwis in nearby Huddersfield, and with similar conditions expected on Saturday night, the hosts will fancy their chances.

"It (the England-New Zealand game) was certainly the best game of the tournament and certainly the first time I'd seen a side play 80 minutes," Sheens said.

"I didn't see a weakness in their game. I though New Zealand were the form team of all of us and England just pulled them apart."

Talk of making amends for last year's World Cup final defeat by New Zealand has been hosed down by the Australians, but it's clear the Brits are still smarting from their last appearance in a major final when the Kangaroos embarrassed them 44-4 at Elland Road back in 2004.

"Those nights are rare - what we did on that night was pretty special from our part," Lockyer said.

"It would be very difficult to repeat that, I'm sure this game will be a lot tougher.

"This is the Four Nations, this is what we've come here to win.

"Last year's (World Cup loss) is gone.

"We've got an opportunity here to win the Four Nations and that's what we want to do."

The match, Lockyer's 50th for Australia, could also be his last in the green and gold, with the skipper saying he would wait until the off-season before weighing up his representative future.

Sheens will wait until just before kick-off to asses weather conditions before trimming his six-man bench.

Teams:-

Australia: Billy Slater, Jarryd Hayne, Greg Inglis, Justin Hodges, Brett Morris, Darren Lockyer (capt), Johnathan Thurston, Ben Hannant, Cameron Smith, Petero Civoniceva, Luke Lewis, Paul Gallen, Nathan Hindmarsh. Interchange: David Shillington, Sam Thaiday, Anthony Watmough, Kurt Gidley, Michael Jennings, Brett White (two to be omitted)

England: Shaun Briscoe, Peter Fox, Chris Bridge, Michael Shenton, Ryan Hall, Sam Tomkins, Kyle Eastmond, Adrian Morley, Kevin Sinfield, James Graham, Jamie Peacock(capt), Gareth Ellis, Sam Burgess. Interchange: Eorl Crabtree, Jon Wilkin, Ben Westwood, James Roby