Dont take the opposition lightly -
Civoniceva

Petero Civoniceva has warned his Australian team mates they will need to reproduce the "perfect half" in its Tri-Nations defence with New Zealand and Great Britain having bridged the gap in recent years.

Civoniceva warned that the Kangaroos needed to be right on their game these days to beat either team.

That New Zealand came within two points of back-to-back wins over Australia was not lost on Civoniceva or his teammates, who are aware another off night at the office could spell disaster with the Kiwis clearly high on confidence and form.

The Fijian-born forward believes Great Britain will be a team hell bent of seeking revenge on two fronts when they clash with Australia at JBB Stadium on Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd.

Saturday night's loser will find it almost impossible to make the final.

Civoniceva, who played in last year's Tri-Nations final when Australia had the game won at half time following a flawless opening 40 minutes, says experience tells him Great Britain will hit back with ferocity from their embarrassing 42-26 loss to the Kiwis at Loftus Road in London last weekend.

They've also been waiting almost a year to extract revenge for the Tri-Nations hiding handed out to them by the Kangaroos in last year's lopsided finale when skipper Darren Lockyer carved them to pieces off the back of a near perfect first 40 minutes from his forwards.

Great Britain coach Brian Noble has made his players stew by delaying the naming of his test squad, keeping them on edge after several pleaded for him to give them another chance.

"There's a lot of pressure on the Great Britain team to perform," said Civoniceva, anticipating a full-on assault from the wounded Lions pack.

"I don't think anybody, especially their fans expected them to lose like that.

"I wouldn't be surprised if we see some changes in the halves and even in the backs where New Zealand ran through them."

Australia hit back after being ambushed by New Zealand in its Tri-Nations opener in Sydney by sneaking home by two points in a memorable confrontation in Auckland last month.

Civoniceva said the Australian players' pride was severely hurt after the Kiwis inflicted a shock win in Sydney and warned Great Britain's players would be feeling the same pain.

"We sat down and spoke about the pride in our jersey after the first game and what we lacked and what we needed to do and no doubt

Great Britain will have taken a hard look at their game and made some adjustments," said Civoniceva.

Civoniceva said the players had viewed the tape of the "perfect half".

"We've looked at that tape of the first half and that's the type of football we know we can play and we realise that's the standard we need to play to if are going to beat New Zealand and Great Britain," he said.

Parramatta's Nathan Hindmarsh, still having problems with his knee, is expected to be ruled out of the game later in the week with a plan to bring him back and test out his injury in the test against France in Perpignan the following week.

Rookie forward Ben Creagh pulled out of weights training with a viral infection which kept him away from team-mates.

More info: www.tri-nations.com.au Discussion: Tri-Nations Forum at http://forums.leagueunlimited.com/forumdisplay.php?f=130