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England gained revenge for their World Cup defeats with a bruising 20-12 victory over New Zealand to set up a showdown with Australia in the final of the Gillette Four Nations.

Winger Peter Fox marked his recall with a crucial two-try burst just before half-time. But England's heroes with their forwards, who won a war of attrition with their Kiwi counterparts at the Galpharm Stadium.

England led from the 10th minute and seized control with Fox's quickfire tries - but they were never able to relax against a fired-up Kiwis side determined to build on their World Cup triumph.

It was a victory for the tactics of England coach Tony Smith, whose late switch of Kevin Sinfield to hooker enabled him to start with the imposing Sam Burgess at loose forward and sparked a man-of-the-match display from the Leeds Rhinos captain.

Afterwards, England coach Tony Smith described the win as a "shot in the arm" for the northern hemisphere - but insisted there were no celebrations.

"It's a real shot in the arm for the game in the northern hemisphere and for Super League," said Smith.

"The southern hemisphere are always favourites in our sport, and to beat them to the final is a feat in itself - but we're not satisfied yet.

"The players are really pleased to make the final - but we're not done yet. That was part of the motivation tonight - we wanted another crack at Australia.

"We felt we did not do ourselves justice in the first half last week and we want to put together two decent halves of rugby league and see where it takes us."

Opposite number Stephen Kearney had praise for England and believes they can push the Kangaroos all the way.

"Full credit to the English side, I thought they were very good tonight," he said.

"They were certainly very physical through the middle.

"I've got to say we're very disappointed. We didn't put our best foot forward, but the English didn't allow us to do that. I thought they were wonderful.

"With their last 50 minutes against Australia and tonight, that will certainly put them in a good position next weekend."

Kiwis captain Benji Marshall said his players suffered from the interpretations of French referee Thierry Alibert.

"It was hard to make out his interpretation, but we're not going to make any excuse," he said.

"They were good; we were bad."