Gleeson fills in for rebuilt England

By Dave Hadfield in Newcastle

England go into the match today in which they must rebuild their World Cup confidence without a specialist stand-off. Not only are they without Leon Pryce because of his worrying rib injury for the game against New Zealand here, but coach Tony Smith has also chosen to rest Danny McGuire, who will be needed in that role if Pryce is not fit for the semi-finals. That means that the Warrington centre, Martin Gleeson, will wear the relatively unfamiliar No 6 shirt.

Elsewhere in the team, Lee Smith returns on the wing after missing last week's hammering by Australia with a foot injury and Jamie Jones-Buchanan, Mickey Higham and Rob Purdham get their chance in the starting line-up to stake their claim for a place next week. Paul Sykes also gets a start in the centre alongside Keith Senior. Jamie Langley and Ben Westwood will make their first appearances of the tournament off the bench.

England need players like Paul Wellens, Gareth Ellis and, when he gets into the game from the substitutes' bench, Kevin Sinfield to show the quality that is expected from them. The camp has been determinedly upbeat this week, almost as if nothing is wrong – which the performance in Melbourne last Sunday showed to be far from the case.

New Zealand have scotched any suggestion that they would wrap their stand-off, the talented but fragile Benji Marshall, in cotton wool until the semi-finals by naming him as captain today. Marshall has not captained a team since his schooldays and called it the highest achievement of his career. The Kiwis have made five changes, including a first game of the tournament for one of the survivors from the last World Cup, the former Warrington forward, David Kidwell.

Stacey Jones, is to make a comeback next year at the age of 32 for the New Zealand Warriors.