HE KEPT Melbourne's most potent attacking weapons in check on grand final day, and now the Australians are bracing for a repeat performance by hard-headed and hard-haired centre Steve Matai in their World Cup clash against New Zealand at the SFS.

Israel Folau, who marked Manly's Matai in the premiership decider and will do so again on Sunday night, predicted yesterday that many of New Zealand's hostilities would come not from their sizeable forward pack but from the in-form centre.

"I'm sure he's going to be out there to try and whack blokes," Folau said.

"I've got to try and be careful in that area but I'm pretty confident going into Sunday that I can do the job. We're both representing our country so it should be a pretty physical game on Sunday."

Australia will field their youngest centre pairing, with Brisbane-bound Folau teaming up with his now former Storm teammate Greg Inglis, against the experience of Matai and Jerome Ropati.

The Australians have been unable to call on regular representative centres Justin Hodges, Matt Cooper and Mark Gasnier - the latter, now playing rugby union in France, was knocked out by Matai in a tackle in Wellington last year which resulted in the Kiwi being sent off. Their unavailability for the World Cup has left coach Ricky Stuart with a gifted but green combination.

While the Australians, who trained yesterday for the first and only time at the venue for their clash with the Kiwis, have named a predictably strong side, the inexperience of some players at key positions appears to be a chink in their armour.

Of course, the Folau-Inglis pairing might give the Australians added strike power. Folau, who has made his name in the centres for Melbourne, has so far had to be content with spots on the wing in his two matches for the Kangaroos, not to mention his State of Origin outings with Queensland.

The withdrawal of the incumbents has given the 19-year-old an opportunity to cement a spot closer to the action long term. "It's going to be a pretty good centre pairing, I think," Folau said.

"I wasn't expecting to play centre, to be quite honest, and now that I've got the opportunity to be playing there, I'm pretty stoked about that - I'm trying to make the most of it."

Ditto Matai, who said he would pass on Manly's grand-final secrets to Stephen Kearney, the Kiwis coach and Storm assistant, if it meant nullifying the likes of Folau, Inglis and fullback Billy Slater.

"We're always pretty honest with each other if we've got tips on helping better our game - we're not afraid to go up to each other and say, 'Look, we need to work on this, work on that,"' Matai said.

"That grand final, I think we can take a lot out of that defence hopefully I can take that into the World Cup and into the Kiwis' camp."

- England coach Tony Smith yesterday named what appears to be their strongest possible squad for their opening match against Papua New Guinea in Townsville on Saturday night.

England: Paul Wellens, Ade Gardner, Martin Gleeson, Keith Senior, Lee Smith, Leon Pryce, Rob Burrow, Jamie Peacock (capt), James Roby, James Graham, Gareth Hock, Gareth Ellis, Kevin Sinfield. Interchange: Danny McGuire, Maurie Fa'asavalu, Adrian Morley, Jon Wilkin.