SYDNEY - A shock victory is very much a long shot, but New Zealand Residents rugby league coach Gerard Stokes says his players know they have a rare opportunity when they take on world champions Australia tonight .
The Residents are drawn from the domestic Bartercard Cup competition, and selection was further restricted with the decision not to consider members of World Cup squads.
The Kangaroos, on the other hand, are hot favourites to retain the World Cup in Europe over the coming month. They put 50 points past the Kiwis in April and crushed Papua New Guinea 82-0 in Townsville last weekend.
So on paper, what is essentially a practice outing for Australia at Gosford, north of Sydney, has the look of a mismatch.
The local media seem to think so, with one scribe describing the shark that some of the Kangaroos saw at a local beach on Wednesday as the biggest fright they would get all week.
But Stokes said the match was a chance for his unsung charges to step into the limelight and present their credentials.
"It will be good preparation for the Australians, but it will be a good for our blokes as well in terms of their careers," he said.
"It's a huge opportunity for them to show how well they can play. For them, this sort of game would probably not come along normally. The only way you get to play against the Australians nowadays is in tests."
Stokes readily conceded that it would need an upset of major proportions for the Residents to win, but he expected his team to be competitive.
"We haven't come here to get our autograph books signed and we won't be looking at damage control," he said.
"We believe if we can put it together for 80 minutes, which is what we've been working on, then we'll be a good challenge."
The Residents, who will be skippered by Otahuhu Leopards five-eighth Shane Edwards, arrived in Sydney on Monday and have been based at Penrith.
With some of his players not having had a game for five weeks, Stokes said match fitness could be a problem. However, preparations had gone well over the past few days, and he felt that his players were ahead of schedule.
"When you've got just a week, you don't have time to do much, apart from making sure the basics are there and putting a few patterns of play in place."
Australia: Darren Lockyer, Mat Rogers, Ryan Girdler, Adam MacDougall, Wendell Sailor, Trent Barrett, Andrew Johns (capt), Bryan Fletcher, Nathan Hindmarsh, Ben Kennedy, Darren Britt, Craig Gower, Michael Vella. Reserves: Scott Hill, Jason Croker, Robbie Kearns, Jason Stevens.
New Zealand Residents: Lusi Sione, Scott Woodgate, Gafa Tuiloma, Alan Lio, Paul Ah Kuoi, Shane Edwards (capt), Maurice Emslie, Jonny Limmer, Tyson Majoribanks, Shaun Norton, Anthony Seu Seu, Shane Beyers, Phillip Leuluai. Reserves: Scott Nixon, Chris Faifua, Enoka Mamoe, Sinave Faitala.
- NZPA
Rugby League: Coach realistic about chances against Australia
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