Kiwis players hoping to have a flutter on the Melbourne Cup yesterday were apparently worried their Chatto Creek lunch stop wouldn't have TAB facilities.
Before they boarded their bus for Dunedin, however, nothing was left to chance during a defence-focused morning training session at Queenstown's Davies Park.
Hooker Issac Luke, who returned to action against Samoa at the weekend after serving out a suspension for a lifting tackle on Sonny Bill Williams in a preliminary NRL final in September, said coach Stephen Kearney had ''blown up'' about aspects of Saturday's last-gasp victory.
The coach had every right to be mad, and the match had been a timely reminder about respecting every team they came up against, Luke said.
That included England this Saturday at Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium''We need to translate that on to the field, and we had a great training session today.
''We're competing every day, and Steve wants to select his team from the best performers and the best trainers, and we all know our spot's up for grabs every day.''
This Saturday would be a ''massive'' game, and the team knew what they were in for after seeing England run the Kangaroos close on Sunday.
Adding to the English side's motivation would be thoughts of revenge after losing to the Kiwis in the World Cup semifinals last year.
''That was an outstanding game, and I think it's going to take off this time as well.''
After training in front of a freshly snowcapped Remarkables range, Luke said he was making his first visits to Queenstown and Dunedin.
Playing at a new venue was an opportunity to raise rugby league's profile in the South, and especially to get ''lots of kids to jump on board'' the game.
England had a low-key first day in Dunedin yesterday. The squad had a gym and pool session in the morning, while it was scheduled to attend the Wingatui races in the afternoon.
The side will train at Tahuna Park at 2.30pm today and players will be available to sign autographs from about 3.30pm.
Kiwis coach Stephen Kearney has added experience to his interchange for Saturday's match.
Utility Thomas Leuluai and forward Greg Eastwood will come back into the playing line-up after sitting out last week's 14-12 nailbiter over Samoa. They will replace Lewis Brown, who fills the 18th man spot, and Suaia Matagi.
Meanwhile, England has stuck with the same 17 which suffered a heartbreaking last-round loss to Australia.
New Zealand: Peta Hiku, Jason Nightingale, Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Dean Whare, Manu Vatuvei, Kieran Foran, Shaun Johnson, Jesse Bromwich, Issac Luke, Adam Blair, Simon Mannering, Kevin Proctor, Jason Taumalolo, Interchange: Thomas Leuluai, Greg Eastwood, Martin Taupau, Tohu Harris, Lewis Brown.
England: Sam Tomkins, Josh Charnley, Kallum Watkins, Dan Sarginson, Ryan Hall, Gareth Widdop, Matty Smith, George Burgess, Josh Hodgson, James Graham, Liam Farrell, Joel Tomkins, Sean O'Loughlin (capt). Interchange: Daryl Clark, Brett Ferres, Tom Burgess, Chris Hill.
- Additional reporting The New Zealand Herald/AAP
