HE may be something of Wembley veteran – but walking out at the famous stadium on Saturday will be as special as the first time for Ben Westwood.
It will be his fifth appearance at the national stadium, following three wins in Warrington Wolves colours and one defeat in the red and white of England.
It is a trend the 32-year-old is hoping to reverse when Steve McNamara’s men tackle New Zealand in the Rugby League World Cup semi final.
And the second rower believes playing at Wembley will be the perfect opportunity to right the wrongs of Saturday’s scrappy quarter final win over France.
He said: “There is no better place to play than Wembley and we will be ready.
“It is a great atmosphere and we know there will be a big crowd with more than 60,000 tickets already sold. It is not only the best stadium in the country but the world and I have some special memories playing there.”
Never one to take a step backwards in the physical contest, Westwood knows he will be facing giant men in the second row battle in the form of Frank Pritchard and Sonny Bill Williams.
He said: “They have some big boys don’t they? But it is a challenge I will be looking forward to. We will be giving it our best shot and showing them what we have got.”
And the stalwart, who celebrated his Testimonial season at The Halliwell Jones Stadium this year, says he is ready to play anywhere after a spell at prop in the second half at the DW Stadium on Saturday.
“I enjoyed having the spell at prop. But to be honest, we didn’t see much of the ball in that period and we were concentrating on our defence – which was pretty good. We need to get our attack better though.
“The timing wasn’t quite right for whatever reason, one of those days where we didn’t click. We will get it right on Saturday.”
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