Kearney warns against complacency

New Zealand coach Stephen Kearney insists the defending champions will not be taking Wales lightly in the opening match of Saturday's Gillette Four Nations double-header at Wembley.

The Welsh lost 42-4 to England on their tournament debut last Saturday and will be out to limit the damage in their two remaining matches against the Kiwis and Australia.

Complacency on the part of New Zealand seems to be Wales' best hope of springing a shock but Kearney is adamant there is no prospect of that.

He knows his team need to win both their next two matches following their opening 26-12 defeat by Australia, and says he has been doing his homework on Iestyn Harris' men.

"I watched them quite closely against the English side," he said. "Obviously I know Lee Briers fairly well, I've come across him on my travels.

"I thought the two wingers did a really good job at the weekend and the two front rowers are really keen to take the ball forward.

"It suggests to me, if you give them an opportunity and turn up with the wrong attitude and allow them to play the way they want to play, you are going to give yourselves some headaches.

"Our focus this week has been on getting our performance right. There were areas last week we did well in and some areas of improvement. It's about getting that consistency."

Wembley will also be a new experience for all but one of the Kiwis - Thomas Leuluai won the Challenge Cup there with Wigan in August - and for scrum-half Keiran Foran the walk-about should be an eye-opener.

Kearney, who played for his country at the national stadium in 1993, said: "I was quite alarmed when I was talking to Keiran and he thought Wembley was the ground that England and Wales played at last weekend.

"I'm thinking he's in for a bit of a surprise when we go there to train.

"I'll make the lads very aware of what to expect and I'm sure Thomas will tell them what it's like. It's a wonderful stadium to play in but the focus needs to be on our performance."

Wales are hoping to have Crusaders duo Lloyd White and Peter Lupton back to face New Zealand.

They were late withdrawals from the defeat by England after picking up hamstring injuries in Wales' 30-6 warm-up win over Ireland seven days earlier, and left Harris with just nine full-time players.

"They're having extensive treatment and hopefully they will pull through and play on Saturday," said assistant coach Barry Eaton.

"It's probably going to be a late call. They've done some small rehab training this week but they've not trained fully with the squad yet.

"They are just niggling injuries, nothing serious, and hopefully they will be okay for this week. They will be important players for the team if they are fit."

Wales have also called former Crusaders forward Chris Beasley, now playing with Queensland club Central Comets, into a 19-man squad, with Aled James dropping out.

Widnes-bound prop Jordan James is set to play after recovering from a head injury sustained in the very first tackle of the England match.

Full-back Danny Jones says his team will go the New Zealand clash without fear.

"It's massive," admitted Jones, whose father Dai was born in Wales. "It doesn't come much bigger. They're world champions and Four Nations holders.

"We knew winning that game against the French in Albi last year would give us the opportunity to play against the best teams in the world and we're certainly looking forward to it.

"We're not daunted by the task, we're looking forward to getting stuck into it."