Sam Tomkins cannot wait for England's do-or-die Gillette Four Nations clash with New Zealand - and the chance to finally prove his country can compete with the big two.

The 20-year-old Wigan half-back was at the heart of England's spirited fightback at the DW Stadium on Saturday which provided Australia with a fright and gave the hosts renewed hope of reaching the November 14 final.

England's 26-16 defeat means they must beat the World Cup winners in the final group match at the Galpharm Stadium next Saturday in order to earn a re-match with the Kangaroos at Elland Road a week later.

"It was always going to be a tough ask coming from 26-0 down against the Aussies - but we kept them scoreless in the second half and we've got to build on that for next week," said Tomkins.

"We've got to prove to ourselves that we can beat the top teams. The Kiwis played well against the Aussies and were unlucky not to win, so it doesn't get any easier."

The 23,122 crowd at Wigan feared a repeat of England's 52-4 World Cup humiliation in Melbourne when tries from Billy Slater (2), man of the match Greg Inglis, captain Darren Lockyer and Brett Morris put Australia 26-0 up by the break.

But, inspired by the dazzling footwork of Tomkins and the impact from the bench of heavyweight forwards Eorl Crabtree and Sam Burgess, England restored their pride thanks to tries from Burgess, Gareth Ellis and Lee Smith.

"We needed to show a bit of passion in the second half," admitted Tomkins.

"In the first half, we were a bit sluggish at times - so we had to try and rectify that.

"That was how we want to play; we want to be passing the ball and playing some attractive rugby and scoring tries. We just gave ourselves too much to do."

New Zealand winger Sam Perrett scored the first hat-trick of the tournament to help his side to a 62-12 win over a patched-up France in Toulouse.

The French, hit by injuries and swine flu, threatened to pull off an upset when they scored a second try to trail just 16-12 early in the second half - but the Kiwis then cut loose with eight unanswered tries.

"You've got to give the French side some credit," said Kiwis coach Stephen Kearney.

"They were very committed and determined to do well and gave us a lesson in that first half on how to stick to a gameplan.

"We took a leaf out of the French. We needed to get back to what works for us."

New Zealand are the 4-1 second favourites, with the hosts pushed out to 7-1, but Kearney is expecting a difficult game on Saturday and pinpoints the English pack as the main danger to his side's hopes.

"They'll be building for this week - and we are too," he said.

"There are areas we need to improve on.

"One of their major strengths is an experienced forward pack. It's going to be an arm wrestle through the middle of the park."