4 Nov 2015

Kiwis hurting after first Test loss

6:16 am on 4 November 2015

Jason Nightingale admits New Zealand are hurting after their first rugby league Test loss to England, but is delighted they will have little time to lick their wounds.

Kiwis vs England Hull 2015

Kiwis vs England Hull 2015 Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The Kiwis have now set up camp in London to begin their preparations for Sunday morning's second Test at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the St George Illawarra winger believes the short-turnaround can be beneficial for the tourists as they seek to set up a series decider in Wigan.

"It's probably ideal coming off a loss," said Nightingale, whose side let slip a 10-0 lead to go down 26-12 in Hull on Sunday. "I know I personally enjoy playing as soon as a I can after a loss.

"It's not a lot of time to lick your wounds and the less time you spend doing that the better it is."

"There's a lot to play for, this game will be huge so we need to do everything we can to keep the series alive."

Nightingale, who has scored 16 tries in his 26 appearances for the Kiwis, warns England that his team are guaranteed to improve as their tour progresses.

"We will improve a lot," he said.

"We executed a lot of things we were trying to do in the first half at Hull and I thought we were unlucky not to be in the lead at half-time, but it was unfortunate the way we played in that second half because it wasn't good enough."

"They got a bit of momentum and we weren't able to shut them down. We got on the back foot and, once we were down by eight, we started playing worse. We acted like we were a lot further behind on the scoreboard."

The Kiwis went on an open-top bus tour of the London sights today and will hold an open training session at Harrow School tomorrow.

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