Widdop honoured to take on England’s Kiwi challenge

St George-Illawarra stand-off Gareth Widdop is looking forward to facing the Kiwis with England this autumn.

Despite the pool of potential players for New Zealand to pick from being decimated by injury, Widdop is still anticipating a tough challenge from Stephen Kearney’s side.

“It’s always a privilege and an honour when you get selected for your country,” Widdop said.

“We’re playing a great New Zealand team. They’re number one in the world at the moment.

“It’s on home soil as well and I’m really looking forward to it.

“They’ve got a few out, but they’ve got depth to pick from.

“For us, as England, we’ve just got to worry about ourselves and what we can do, and make sure that we perform well.”

There are a number of changes to Steve McNamara’s England squad from the group which contested the Four Nations in 2014.

Widdop is pleased to be linking up with players such as George Williams and Ben Currie, who are new to the full England set-up.

“It’s good to see the young kids selected,” he said.

“There are players I haven’t met before.

“It’s a great squad. We’ve got versatility within the squad. Everyone’s really looking forward to the challenge.

“We’re doing everything possible to make sure that we’re performing well and winning games.”

Widdop is also feeling physically fit and rested, after having ended his NRL campaign a few weeks ago.

“We finished three weeks ago, so it hasn’t been too bad,” he said.

“We had a little bit of a rest to get over any niggling injuries, and then just kept the body moving.

“We’re in camp, so it all starts now.

“Obviously, it’s a long season, and everyone’s got general little injuries that can get looked after.

“We’ve got some good staff here who can look after us.”