Farrell fired up to lead by example

Andy Farrell will match a record held by his boyhood hero Ellery Hanley in the first Don't Drink Drive Test against New Zealand in Blackburn tomorrow night when he leads Great Britain for the 19th time. But it is his 18th Test as captain which will be dominating the thoughts of the skilful Wigan giant.

He was devastated by his team's 64-10 humiliation by Australia in Sydney in July - the chastening on-field experience of looking on helplessly as the Kangaroos ran in try after try, rather than the sort of merciless media mauling currently sufered by Nasser Hussain's England cricketers.

As captain, Farrell received more stick than anyone, and the thrashing lent further momentum to the bandwagon for Paul Sculthorpe of St Helens, one of the few poms to escape the massacre with his reputation intact, to replace him as both captain and loose forward.

But that was never going to happen. Farrell's team-mates - led by Sculthorpe, a good friend - recognised the courage he had shown merely by staying on the field in Sydney with a painful groin problem; and also that after having only five wins in 18 Tests in his six years as captain, he deserved the chance to enjoy the success the squad still believes is just around the corner.

"The criticism didn't get to me, it never does really," said Farrell, who at 27 has time to leave Hanley's record well behind. "I think everybody knows I had a few injury problems then, and I know that I'm up to it and did all I could.

"But losing in such an embarrassing way hurt us all, and the thing about international rugby is you have to wait a long time to get the chance to put it right. That's why we're so up for playing the Kiwis."

Even though Sculthorpe is ruled out by a thigh injury, Farrell has lost his familiar No13 shirt and position. It has gone to the Bradford veteran Mike Forshaw, with the captain switching to the second row.

Again Farrell says he's "not bothered. I started off as a second-row, I played there against New Zealand for my first Test, and I was playing back-row for Wigan until Phil Clarke left. I never particularly wanted to be a loose forward, it was just something that happened naturally because I was a bit of a ball player."

In that debut, at Headingley in 1993, he scored a powerful try in a 29-10 British win which completed a 3-0 whitewash. They have not beaten the Kiwis in seven Tests since; there was a single draw in 1998 but Farrell had to face the press as losing captain after each of the other six. Now it is hoped his return to a running role, in a second-row partnership with Adrian Morley, will help match huge Kiwi forwards such as Ali Lauiti'iti and Tony Puletua.

Farrell looks ready for the challenge, having bulked up in the four weeks since Wigan's season ended. "The Kiwis are a very big side and very demanding to handle," he agreed. "But I feel very fresh for this time of year, and I've been able to hammer the training and get right for the Tests."

· Graham Steadman, one of David Waite's assistant coaches with Britain, has signed a two-year extension to his Castleford contract.