YORK City Knights star Lee Jackson leads the National League Two side out tonight believing they can go one better than Cumbria and topple the touring Kiwis.

New Zealand 'A' kicked off their British tour on Sunday when coming from 24-0 down to draw 24-24 with Cumbria in front of a packed house at Whitehaven.

They now face the NL2 representative side at Keighley's Cougar Park (ko 7.30pm), and former Great Britain hooker Jackson, who has been named captain by coach and team selector Peter Roe, said: "The way the Cumbrians had a go suggests we've got a chance.

"The Kiwis might not have thought Cumbria would be that good so they might want to step up their game against us and in that sense it might be harder for us. But all we can do at the end of the day is try our best and the score will look after itself.

"We've had a couple of training sessions. There's been nothing too flash, we've kept everything simple, so let's hope we can do it on the pitch and enjoy the game."

Although tonight's clash is not in the same league as Lions Tests, 34-year-old Jackson, who has 17 GB caps to his name, says it is a privilege to be involved.

"It's another notch, another representative game," he told the Evening Press. "It's not an international, but it's still a big game for me. The quality obviously won't be the same as with GB but we will still try our best."

He added: "Being named captain was unexpected and I was obviously quite delighted to do it."

Knights team-mates Danny Brough and Scott Rhodes had also been picked for the NL2 squad but have had to pull out due to commitments with the National League Under-21s and Scotland respectively, though Rhodes would also be ruled out through injury.

However, the Knights will still have another body in the starting line-up after prop Yusuf Sozi, who signed from Gateshead last week, was drafted in.

Jackson added: "Some of the lads have never played in representative games like these but they're among the elite in NL2 and hopefully we can play well."

The game is likely to be a Cougar Park farewell to Keighley legend Jason Ramshaw, while the NL2-winning Cougars have six other players in the squad, which has been disrupted due to other tour match commitments.

NL2 team: W English (Swinton), M McCulley (Chorley), M Foster (Keighley), D Foster (Keighley), R Barnett (Gateshead), C Hough (Swinton), M Firth (Keighley), P Stephenson (Keighley), L Jackson (capt, Knights), Y Sozi (Knights), A Raleigh (Sheffield), W Freeman (Hunslet), J Ramshaw (Keighley). Subs: M Stringer (Sheffield), I Sinfield (Keighley), R Jonker (London S), S Hoyle (Keighley).

Updated: 11:37 Wednesday, October 22, 2003