English enforcer Sam Burgess has opened the pre-match hostilities ahead of Saturday night's Four Nations opener against the Kiwis in Wellington, nominating Souths teammate Issac Luke as the player he'd most like to bash.
An 18-year-old Burgess famously announced himself to international league with a colossal hit on Kiwis prop
Fuifui Moimoi in Huddersfield in 2007.
Footage of the classic tackle has now attracted over half a million views on YouTube and the now 21-year-old's massive hits have become a regular feature of the NRL since he joined South Sydney at the start of this season.
With Moimoi dropping out of the Kiwis squad injured, Burgess is in search of another victim and he was quick to nominate Luke as the player he'd like to hammer.
The Taranaki-raised Kiwis hooker just happens to be Burgess' best mate at Souths, so the giant Brit was simply indulging in a bit of horse play.
Even so, it was enough to raise Luke's hackles.
"Yeah, what did he say?" asked Luke.
"Man, I'll run over him," he laughed before changing his mind. "Nah, I'll have to run around him. I did it at training one time so hopefully I can do it again."
Luke was expecting to be named on the bench when Kiwis coach Stephen Kearney reveals his side today. With Thomas Leuluai and Nathan Fien interchangeable at halfback and hooker it will be interesting to see which way Kearney leans with his halves combinations. Either way, Luke looks set to be tasked with doing the damage around the ruck once the big English forwards have tired.
"That's how I'll pick on my big Pommie mate," he said. "Actually we'll probably try not to clash because we know each other's weaknesses. We don't want to shame each other out."
Burgess was keen to play down his hitman reputation, but with Adrian Morley having departed the squad - the injured veteran prop yesterday replaced as captain by St Helens prop James Graham - Burgess will certainly be tasked with providing much of the mongrel.
"I am not going out there saying I am going to hit anyone," Burgess said. "I don't feel like I have to prove anything to anyone. If it is there it is there and if it is not, it is not. Certainly the Kiwis have got a few big hitters in the team so I'll keep my eyes peeled.
"[Jared] Waerea-Hargreaves is a big aggressive thing and I'm sure he'll be trying to dish it out as well."
As for Luke, Burgess wasn't joking when he fingered him as the Kiwis' danger man.
"Issac is one of the most dynamic dummy halves I have seen. He is freakishly strong, so I don't know how we are going to deal with him yet. We've not looked at the Kiwis offence in detail."
The English had looked at their meltdown over the final 30 minutes as they blew an 18-0 lead over the Maori on Saturday night.
"We picked it to pieces," Burgess said. "I don't think we were clinical in any of the basic areas of the game. We did all the simple things wrong and it cost us.
"I think it was just fatigue and a little bit of lack of enthusiasm. We started doing a lot of the basic things awful and we certainly can't do that this week."
England aren't expected to name their side until Thursday but coach Steve McNamara said he was confident key halfback Sam Tomkins would play. Tomkins sat out training with a groin strain yesterday but was expected to train today.
Issac Luke (L) and his Pommie mate Sam Burgess know each other's weaknesses. Photo / Getty Images
English enforcer Sam Burgess has opened the pre-match hostilities ahead of Saturday night's Four Nations opener against the Kiwis in Wellington, nominating Souths teammate Issac Luke as the player he'd most like to bash.
An 18-year-old Burgess famously announced himself to international league with a colossal hit on Kiwis prop
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