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Leeds: Mal Meninga believes New Zealand will use their poor quarter-final performance as “motivation” to try and spring an upset against Australia in the World Cup semi-final.
The Kiwis are ranked No. 1 in the world but have hardly set the tournament alight and they only scraped into the semis with a comeback win against Fiji.
However, Meninga said that just makes New Zealand more dangerous as the players will have a point to prove against the Kangaroos in Leeds on Saturday morning AEDT.
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“They probably got an awakening and it would’ve knocked their motivation back into place around the tournament,” Meninga said.
“Without being disrespectful, it’s been a fairly easy ride for the top teams in this tournament and that (Fiji game) probably made them realise they needed to knuckle down and get ready for this.
“They won’t need any motivation to play well. I’d be using it as motivation and if I was a player I’d want to play to the best of my ability (after last week) and everyone has to.
“We are under no illusion to the challenge that’s in front of us, they’ve got a really good footy team who will want to play well.”
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Australia’s captain James Tedesco echoed that sentiment and accused New Zealand of looking ahead against the Fijians.
“They were probably looking to this game instead of focusing on that game and they weren’t at their best, but I know 100 per cent they’ll be ready to go this week,” Tedesco said.
“We’re expecting them to come out far and be at their best, for sure.
“It’s going to be definitely our hardest challenge so far and it’s going to be an 80-minute game for us.”
Meninga confirmed Bent Hunt (rested) and Reagan Campbell-Gillard (hamstring) will return to the starting side, which likely spells the end of Daly Cherry-Evans’ international career.
“(Campbell-Gillard) is the leader of the pack,” Meninga said.
“He’s looking forward to playing and he got unlucky the week before, he’s an important cog in our forward pack, he brings that aggression for us.”
Tedesco backed Campbell-Gillard to help contain a ferocious Kiwi forward pack and said the prop inspired his teammates to run harder.
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“Reg is a massive in, he had a huge year for Parramatta,” he said.
“He’s just a leader that goes forward and when he carries the ball it makes everyone want to carry as hard as him,” Tedesco said.
“He leads by example and we missed him but the Kiwis pack is very strong and it’s not just on Reg, it’s up to our whole pack to stand up to them and go after them.”
Tedesco emphasised that captaining Australia is “the highest honour of my career” but said it was important not to put too much pressure on himself.
“I’ve learned that as captain, especially at Roosters and in Origin, you can definitely carry the weight of the team sometimes,” he said.
“When I do that it hinders my performance, so I’ve learned over the past couple of years that being captain is just to be myself, play my footy and lead by my actions and my words.
“When I do that, that’s when I play my best and the team follows. I’ve definitely learned my lesson there.”
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