RLWC2013: England won’t take Ireland lightly - Watkins

ANYONE daring to get complacent ahead of England’s game with Ireland tomorrow will be told one word: Italy.

That is the view of Leeds Rhinos centre Kallum Watkins as they prepare for their crucial Group A World Cup match against the unfancied opponents.

Watkins was part of the England side embarrassed by minnows Italy in a friendly the week before the tournament began.

He says that chastening experience will serve as a stark reminder ahead of facing Ireland at Huddersfield.

England showed plenty of positives in a 28-20 defeat against Australia last Saturday and Watkins said: “We can pick up from that and improve on certain areas.

“Hopefully we can build and with the players we’ve got we certainly can do that.

“But we can’t get complacent in this tournament as we saw against Italy.

“We know we’ve got to be at our best against Ireland.

“We didn’t help ourselves versus Italy as we made too many errors and gave too many penalties away.

“You’re just not going to win if you do that. They got some good confidence from that and a good win in their first World Cup match against Wales.

“Now we have to build on the stuff we didn’t do too well against the Aussies.”

Ireland need to win to have any chance of reaching the knockout stages having lost 
32-14 against Fiji at Rochdale on Monday night.

Mark Aston’s side have some Super League quality like Wigan’s 2010 Man of Steel Pat Richards and ex-Wakefield and Castleford winger Damien Blanch while they also boast former Australia and New South Wales State of Origin prop Brett White up front.

They are still rank outsiders to win at 40/1 but Watkins added: “Ireland played well Monday night and were just unlucky with the result.

“Fiji were really powerful with their big hits which is what everyone was expecting.

“That’s what they did in the last World Cup and I think Fiji are a really tough side.

“But Ireland got out there and matched them.

“They did well at times. Fiji were just a bit too clinical at the end.

“Ireland can take positives from that, though, as they’ve got a mix of youth and experienced players.

“They’re still learning like many countries.

“It’s going to be a tough game for us. We’ve got stuff to work on and we want to put that right into this game as we know that Ireland will come up fighting.”

Watkins could be paired with Tom Briscoe, the Hull FC winger who joins him at Leeds next season, after England coach Steve McNamara left out Josh Charnley with a shoulder ‘niggle’.

The only other changes to the 19-man squad sees James Graham come in for Lee Mossop and Sean O’Loughlin replace the suspended Sam Burgess so that means there is still no call-up for Leeds duo Rob Burrow and Zak Hardaker.

Watkins insist England are not contemplating having to go into their final game against Fiji still needing a win.

“That’d put us under a lot of pressure,” said the 22 year-old.

“But I think the players we’ve got, and the players that didn’t play who are now getting their chance this week, will put their hand up, work hard for us and get the result we want.

“It’s a sell-out 24,000 crowd so it’ll be a really inspiring for everyone that’s playing in this game.

“It will be quite strange. Probably the most I’ve played in front of there is about 15,000 for a Challenge Cup semi-final.

“But this will be a great game, a great atmosphere and a great spectacle.

“To have it sold out is great for us and the British game.”

Watkins suffered a knee injury towards the end of the Australia game last week, but has been passed fit to earn his fifth cap.

There had been concerns about his fitness towards the end of the Super League season and he does admit he would maybe have taken a rest if not for the World Cup.

“I probably would have done,” he said.

“I didn’t think it was as bad in the Wigan (play-off) game. It was more my hip in that match.

“I got a whack on the hip in the first 10 minutes and it just wouldn’t budge all game so I couldn’t really run as fast as I could. My knee was the week before and it gave me a bit of gyp too but you don’t want to turn down the chance playing internationals like this.

“It’s fine now. I just twisted it in the last few minutes last week but it’s settled down quite well and I’ve trained as normal.

“Then it will be just a case of resting it after the tournament. It doesn’t need surgery or anything.”

Ex-Leeds prop Luke Ambler is in the Ireland squad which is captained by Featherstone Rovers scrum-half Liam Finn.

But they have suffered a major loss with Huddersfield Giants full-back Scott Grix missing out on an appearance on his home turf due to an injury picked up against Fiji.