Roby: Team spirit can inspire England

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A split between Grand Final rivals Leeds and Saints was cited as one of the reasons for England's dismal performances in the World Cup but Roby insists the mood in the camp could not be better ahead of the crunch game at Wigan's DW Stadium.

"There's a great team spirit," he said. "Training has been really good and intense and everybody seems to be having fun."

He added: "We're having a good laugh. A lot of the lads knew each other from the mid-season Test against France and there is a good banter going on.

"It's vital this year that we've got a really good team spirit. With a good blend of players from different teams, we've got that and everybody is enjoying each other's company.

"If we turn up on the day and play like we've practised, we're capable of beating anyone. There is no reason why we can't go on and win this tournament."

Roby is confident England can turn the tables on the Kangaroos following their record 52-4 rout in Melbourne just 12 months ago and believes they can take encouragement from their tournament-opening 34-12 win over France.

"The disappointing thing last year was that we didn't show what we were capable of," he said. "We let ourselves down as well as everybody else but hopefully we'll turn that around on Saturday.

"Coming off the back of the win over France, there are a lot of things we can improve on but everyone knows that and we're taking that into account.

"No disrespect to France, but when you play Australia it's one of the biggest games you'll play in your career and everybody is getting excited."