Danny Brough hopes heavy rain will help Scotland against New Zealand
Last Updated: 10/11/16 11:27am
Scotland skipper Danny Brough is hoping heavy rain will aid his team when they play New Zealand in Workington on Friday night.
The Scots wrap up their inaugural Ladbrokes Four Nations campaign against the Kiwis, who need to boost their points difference in case England pull off an upset against Australia on Sunday, which would leave the big three level on two wins apiece.
Steve McCormack's men lost to Australia by 42 points but restricted England to a 26-point winning margin and Brough says they are looking for further improvement against the Kiwis at what promises to be a soggy Derwent Park.
"It's out there that they've got to score 30 or 40 points to help their chances," Brough said. "We're looking to keep them under 20 if we can, that's one of our goals.
"I just hope the weather can do us a favour as well. If it rains or it's windy, it will slow the game down a bit and let us get set, instead of them getting quick play-the-balls and bursting through us. It would be nice to have a bit of wind and rain to be honest.
"We need to slow the game down, play to our tempo and control the ball. We've got to try to make it a bit messy without giving too many penalties away."
New Zealand's assistant coach Justin Morgan, the former Hull KR boss, insists his side are not thinking about racking up the points against the tournament's minnows.
"Winning is the number one priority, everything else takes care of itself," Morgan said.
"There has been no talk about points differential. They're a good side and they've built over the tournament. Anyone who saw the first 25 minutes of their game against England will certainly say Scotland were the better side.
"On paper we look like a stronger rugby league team but we certainly don't want to add to the upsets that have been happening this year, with the US Election, the Premier League over here and Western Bulldogs winning the AFL.
"We don't want to add to that, we want to make sure the favourites get through on Friday night."
The minimum target for Scotland is to improve on their 40-4 defeat by the Kiwis in their only previous meeting, the quarter-finals of the 2013 World Cup.
Brough, who will equal the Scottish appearance record held by Andrew Henderson with his 23rd cap, insists his team are determined not to go backwards after winning many plaudits for their performance against England and he is already looking ahead to the 2017 World Cup.
"We've got a bit of credit off people now so we could just do with a bit more this week," he said. "Hopefully we can come up with a decent performance and try and grind a win out, then people can see what we are about.
"We're looking to take another stride forward. We were poor against Australia, took a stride forward against England and hopefully we can take another against the Kiwis.
"We've also got people playing for spots for next year, which is a big incentive going into the World Cup. You've got to put yourself in that frame to be in the back of Steve's mind all season so he knows you are there."
New Zealand: D Watene-Zelezniak (Penrith); J Nightingale (St George Illawarra), S Kata (NZ Warriors), G Beale (Cronulla), D Fusitu'a (NZ Warriors); T Leuluai (NZ Warriors), S Johnson (NZ Warriors); J Bromwich (Melbourne, capt), I Luke (NZ Warriors), A Blair (Brisbane), M Ma'u (Parramatta), T Harris (Melbourne), G Eastwood (Canterbury Bulldogs).
Subs: T Maire Martin (Penrith), M Taupau (Manly), J Fisher-Harris (Penrith), J Tapine (Canberra).
Scotland: L Coote (North Queensland); L Tierney (Wigan), E Aitken (St George Illawarra), K Linnett (North Queensland), M Russell (Warrington); D Brough (Huddersfield, capt), R Brierley (Huddersfield); A Walker (Hull KR), L Hood (Leigh), L Douglas (Gold Coast), D Addy (Bradford), D Ferguson (Bradford), F Mariano (Castleford).
Subs (from): T Cassel (Wests Tigers), B Hellewell (London Broncos), B Kavanagh (Bradford), B McConnachie (Ipswich Jets), B Phillips (Workington), D Scott (Batley).
Referee: B Cummins (Australia).
Stadium: Workington
Time: 20:00
As it stands: Ladbrokes Four Nations
Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Points |
Australia | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 68 | 20 | 4 |
England | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 54 | 29 | 2 |
New Zealand | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 25 | 30 | 2 |
Scotland | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 24 | 92 | 0 |