REMEMBER, remember, the 23rd of November.

That is the message that Steve McNamara needs to ram home this week.

Wolves prop Chris Hill held his head in his hands. Some England colleagues used arms to shield cameras from the tears in their eyes.

Twelve months ago the nation’s hearts – along with those of the players – were broken when a place in ‘our’ Rugby League World Cup Final at Old Trafford was taken away from McNamara’s men in the cruellest of fashions.

With 21 seconds left on the clock in the semi final at Wembley, scrum half Shaun Johnson danced over the try line and held his nerve to slot the winning conversion and send New Zealand into a showdown with Australia.

That hurt. It still does.

Nothing can bring that opportunity back, but it would sure feel good to give the Kiwis a taste of their own medicine in Saturday’s crunch Four Nations battle at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin (kick off 7am UK time, BBC2).

Hill will be leading from the front again. He will not have back-up from Warrington’s Ben Westwood as he did on that occasion, but this time he will have support from another Wolves man in the shape of new signing Daryl Clark, who is revelling in his debut series for England.

McNamara’s men, having beaten Samoa 32-26 but then lost to Australia 16-12 on Sunday, need to win by 10 points to guarantee a place in the final in Wellington next weekend.

They could still qualify with a loss on points difference, but the abacus will only need to come out if Samoa gain their first win of the tournament against the Kangaroos at WIN Stadium in Wollongong, Australia, on Sunday.

The Kiwis showed again last weekend that they are adept at winning matches late on if that is what it takes.

Again Johnson was at the heart of things as his initial burst and offload started a move that he helped to finish by supplying the final pass for centre Shaun Kenny-Dowall to cross for the winning try in the 76th minute against Samoa.

That, together with the opening 30-18 defeat of Australia leaves the Kiwis top of the table going into this do-or-die weekend.

Clark said: "Obviously they were outstanding in the first game, they got their second win against Samoa but they weren't as impressive, but we know it's a great team and they are capable of winning games. If we want to win we will have to be on it.

"We know what the situation is and what we need to win by if we want to be in the final. We are pretty confident.

"We fell short against the Aussies but we felt we performed pretty well in that game. We have just got to tweak a few things from that and I'm sure we will be all right.

"It will be our third game together and there was massive improvement from the Samoa game so hopefully it will be another improvement on the Australia game."

England were a fingertip away from their own spectacular last-gasp win at AAMI Stadium against the Aussies, a victory that would have sealed a place in the final.

Replays showed winger Ryan Hall appeared to have an all-important touch on the ball over the try line as he hunted down Liam Farrell’s grubber kick alongside full back Greg Inglis but video referee Bernard Sutton ruled he did not have downward pressure.

That controversial 80th-minute decision, watched by a BBC2 audience of 336,000, concluded the outcome of a match England were leading 12-4 at half time, while a missed tackle from wounded hooker Josh Hodgson had proved pivotal in the match-winning try from Inglis in the 63rd minute.

Hill said afterwards: “That’s all it takes in a game like that – a couple of lapses and Australia took the opportunities.

“All the boys were devastated. We spoke about picking ourselves up quickly.

“We need to win against New Zealand to get in the final and if we do that the loss to Australia will be quickly forgotten about.”

Hill and Clark were among the top achievers for average metres gained per carry and figured high on the tackle counts despite joining the action off the bench and being spelled.

Clark, in his first game against Australia, showed his class as his trademark runs from dummy half and his support play troubled the defence of the world champions.

The 21-year-old’s performance also highlighted areas in which he can improve his game over the next four years with Warrington Wolves at The Halliwell Jones Stadium, a three-on-two break that was fluffed being a prime example.