CHRIS Hill says England have made “massive steps” in training and have prepared to face “the best Lebanon” in Sydney today.

The Wolves skipper will line up in the front row for Wayne Bennett’s side as they look for their first win of this year’s Rugby League World Cup against the Cedars, kick off 9am UK time.

After Lebanon’s shock 29-18 win over France on the opening weekend, Hill knows England will have to be on their game at the iconic Sydney Football Stadium.

Hill, who celebrated his 30th birthday yesterday, says the entire squad has stepped up on the training field.

“At the end of the day, it’s a Test match and Lebanon looked very sharp against France,” he said.

“They have a few good NRL lads in there, like Mitchell Moses and Robbie Farah, who has a lot of experience.

“We’re preparing for the best Lebanon. We’re looking to bring the best England and that should make for a good Test match.

“We want another good, solid performance. We want to keep improving and roll through this tournament.

“The mood in the camp is very positive, we’ve taken some massive steps.

“Even the lads who aren’t playing are contributing massively. It’s hard coming on tour and not playing but they’re giving as much as the lads who are.

“It’s bringing the intensity up, which is good for everyone.

“Our positives outweigh our negatives at the moment, so we’re pushing on.”

Hill featured in the front row in last week’s 18-4 loss to hosts and defending champions Australia, but the Wire man says the squad have taken plenty of positives from the game in Melbourne.

“We’ve still got room for improvement all over the park, but there were a lot of positives in the way we moved the ball and troubled Australia,” he said.

“We made a couple of errors in key areas in the first 20 minutes last week and handed a bit of ball over, and that’s what affected us.

“I think we only had two or three play-the-balls in their half in the first half, so to be so close is a real tough effort from us.

“We’ve taken that on and put it into this week.”

England will have another debutant in their ranks against Lebanon as St Helens prop Alex Walmsley has been named on the interchange bench.

Walmsley was meant to face the Kangaroos, but a virus put an end to his hopes of making his England bow in Melbourne.

However, Hill says his roommate and fellow front-rower is fully recovered and raring to go.

“Al’s ready and raring to go. He’s got his weight back up and has been flying all week,” he said.

“He’s a big human, he’ll fly forward and I’m looking forward to watching him and playing with him.

“It would have been a big ask for him to play last week, a World Cup opener takes a lot out of you before you even kick off, but he’s done well this week.”