Kiwis Squad For RLWC Final

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Kiwis Squad For RLWC Final

Manchester, England, November 28, 2013 – Stephen Kearney has named his 19-man squad for Saturday’s Rugby League World Cup final against the Kangaroos at Old Trafford, Manchester.

The group includes three wingers, with Jason Nightingale joined by Manu Vatuvei and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, who both had injury concerns this week. The final 17 will be confirmed before kick-off.

The most notable omission from the squad is the second-rower Frank Pritchard.

“We made a final decision on Frank this morning,” said Kearney. “He’d love to play, and we’d love to have him there, but the stakes are as high as they get this weekend and he’s not 100%. It’s naturally very tough for him to be this close and ruled out, but we’re very happy with our cover.”

The Kiwis have a similar squad to that which beat England 20-18 at Wembley last weekend, with just Greg Eastwood and Vatuvei coming into the 19 and Sam Moa and Pritchard dropping out.

The RLWC final kicks-off at 2.30pm on Saturday, November 30, at Old Trafford, Manchester. It'll be played in front of over 70,000 people, which makes it the largest crowd ever in the history of international rugby league. The match is covered live in New Zealand on SKY Sport 2 from 3.00am, Sunday, December 1.

The 19-man Kiwi squad to face Australia in the RLWC final is:
 

Note:

The all-time leading try-scorers for the Kiwis in RLWC matches are Richie Blackmore and Lesley Vainikolo, who both scored 9. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck currently has 8, while Richie Barnett scored 7.

Shaun Johnson is already the Kiwis leading point-scorer in RLWC matches. His 74 points (from 4 tries and 29 goals in this tournament) puts him ahead of Matthew Ridge (55 points) and Henry Paul (53 points).

New Zealand has only once been crowned World Champions of Rugby League (2008). They were also beaten finalists in 1988 and 2000.

ENDS

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