England's fiery prop James Graham is preparing for a brutal challenge in Saturday's must-win Gillette Four Nations clash with New Zealand with a warning that the Kiwi forwards are tougher than their Australian counterparts.

Jamie Peacock's men were buoyed by their second-half fightback in their 26-16 defeat by the Kangaroos last Saturday but Graham says there will be no let-up against New Zealand, who had the best of the play in their opening 20-20 draw with Australia and inflicted an 11-try rout on France.

"They're a very physical bunch," said Graham. "I think it's fair to say they are more physical than Australia. "If you look at their pack, it's full of big guys and there are some very strong outside backs who are going to take some carries as well."

He added: "They showed against Australia and France that they're not taking this competition lightly and they want to build on the success of the past few years that they've had.

"They're the world champions, they won the Tri-Nations in 2005 and they've had two great performances in the competition so far so it's going to be a very tough ask for us."