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Rugby League

Smith hails improving Lions

04/11/2007

Great Britain coach Tony Smith hailed his Great Britain players as the second best side in the world after they beat New Zealand 44-0 in Hull.

The Lions clinched the three-match series with their second successive win and Smith says his side must now try and catch Australia in terms of performance.

Smith had challenged his players to improve on last week's 20-14 win in the first Test and they delivered that with an emphatic eight-try victory.

He said: "This team is getting better and better. We were very solid last week and we wanted to improve on being solid and I thought we did."

Smith was impressed with the Lions' defence as much as anything else after they shut-out their opponents.

"I thought we were very committed. To nil a team, any team, in a game of rugby league is pretty fair going, particularly with the calibre of players they've got in there," said the Australian-born coach.

Smith explained that the next challenge for his side was to try and catch Australia and prove that they can become the best side in the world.

He said: "Australia are deservedly the number one team in the world but we're still chasing them and we want to go after that. Time will give us that opportunity."

Having clinched the series Smith suggested that he might rest some of his star players for the third Test at Wigan's JJB Stadium next week.

But the coach still expects whichever side he fields to put up another strong performance against the Kiwis.