Samoa coach Parish slams favourite tags for England Rugby League World Cup opener

Samoa coach Matt Parish rubbished claims his side are favourites to topple England, instead insisting they are undercooked ahead of Saturday's Rugby League World Cup curtain-raiser. England boss Shaun Wane and the bookies have installed Samoa as favourites after several high-profile players chose to represent the Pacific Islanders ahead of Australia and New Zealand. Ad Parish can call upon eight players who featured in Penrith Panthers' win over the Paramatta Eels in the NRL Grand Final but Samoa only had their first training session in the UK on Monday while England warmed up with a 50-0 win over Fiji on Friday night.

Rugby LeagueCramlington Rockets launch new era with Rugby League World Cup fundingAN HOUR AGO «It doesn't really worry us whether we're favourites or not. We're underdone for the first game,» said Parish, who has guided Samoa to the quarter-finals at the last two World Cups. «England have had a trial match where our guys were all on a plane, so we've had our first session this morning with our squad.

»We'll have two more sessions this week, then we've got to play an opening World Cup game. But I've got no doubt we'll put in our best performance. «The upset would be Samoa beating England.

That's never happened before.» Panthers duo Jarome Luai and Brian To'o were set to make the Australia squad before pledging their allegiance to Samoa and Parish admits it is a big coup to have the household names on board even if it will take a bit of time for them to gel. Samoa will face Greece and France after their Group A opener in the North East and Parish expects his side to keep on improving as they bid to make it into the knockout phase with the aim of lifting the trophy at Old Trafford in five weeks' time. «They