Rangi Chase leaves England camp

McNamara played down the significance of Rangi Chase's absence from Friday's captain's run at Wembley and went on the attack by suggesting other teams have covered up disciplinary issues during the tournament.

The national coach revealed at a press conference at Wembley that Chase had been granted permission to leave camp after being dropped for the semi-final against the cup holders.

Chase, who has lost the stand-off berth to Gareth Widdop, is thought to have taken the news badly but McNamara insisted the player was granted a short-term leave of absence and said the decision was made on compassionate grounds.

"He wasn't selected this week and has asked for some time at home," McNamara told the news conference.

"I was happy to grant that permission so he's back with his family.

"We'll let him have the weekend back home and when we get back into camp next week, all being well, he'll be back with us.

"There's no issue whatsoever from me with him. He wasn't selected. People deal with that in different ways and Rangi has been really good for this team for a long period of time now.

"But, as a coach, I have to make decisions that I believe are right every single week for the team and I've done that this week."

England captain Kevin Sinfield said he had spoken to Chase after he was given the news of his non-selection.

"He's disappointed like the rest of the players who miss out this week but we all realise it is a quality squad and he'll take it on the chin," Sinfield told the press conference.

Having remained loyal to the New Zealand-born Chase ever since he made his decision to switch allegiance two years ago, McNamara's decision to ditch him now represents a stunning about-turn.

Widdop, who battled back from a hip dislocation in June to make England's World Cup squad, played cameo roles in the opening two group matches against Australia and Ireland before being left out completely for the last two games.

The Halifax-born Widdop will win his 11th cap in his first start in his preferred stand-off position, but McNamara denies the selection is a gamble.

"Not at all," he said. "I'm really comfortable with it. I'm very pleased for Gareth. He's had to bide his time and be patient.

"He's been training full-time every day for God knows how many weeks now. He's played a couple of games for us so it's nothing new or spectacular. It's based on picking the right team.

"I'm very confident this week that Gareth Widdop and Kevin Sinfield is the right combination for us to go with."

Chase is the third member of McNamara's initial 24-man World Cup squad to leave camp, although Gareth Hock and Zak Hardaker were permanent exclusions following disciplinary breaches.

McNamara has been tetchy throughout the tournament when quizzed over off-field issues and he was adamant on Friday that the allegations have not been a distraction.

"I think it's been really good," he said of his team's campaign. "Sometimes you might think there are some issues because we decide to deal with issues.

"Some people might decide not to deal with issues in their camp so you might not think there's issues at other places.

"We do. We have standards. We set standards but we've had a real good campaign, our preparation has been good, the quality of our performance at certain parts in certain games has been good.

"Of course we'd have liked to play better and we will play better this week.

"We're really focused and I've never seen a team as composed as it is right now. They are ready to play."

Wigan hooker Michael McIlorum was another absentee from England's final training run at Wembley after being left out of the team to face the Kiwis.

"With Mickey it's different," McNamara said. "He's got a back injury and had a scan in Liverpool yesterday. He's back with one of our medical staff, Chris Brookes, in Greater Manchester now.

"We need to get that back issue sorted out for Mickey. That's very, very important.

"We're hopeful it will be sorted out and he'll recover."