PNG legend Stanley Gene and NRL hitman Neville Costigan have vowed the underdog Kumuls will hold firm against any over-the-top aggression in Saturday's rugby league World Cup opener against England in Townsville.

England coach Tony Smith is yet to decide whether bad boy prop Adrian Morley will join fellow enforcer Gareth Hock in the starting line-up to terrorise the smaller PNG pack, conceding massive experience and size.

Morley spent 26 weeks on the sidelines from 11 charges with the Roosters in the NRL and holds the record for the fastest send off in Test history.

He lasted all of 12 seconds of the first Ashes Test in England in 2003 before being marched for an ugly high tackle on Australian forward Robbie Kearns who was knocked out cold.

But the veteran Gene, lining up for his third World Cup since 1995, and Costigan, making his debut for PNG, have promised the rank underdogs will hit England's runners with rock-like resistance and will not give an inch.

"I think our boys will handle that stuff pretty easily," said Costigan, capable of inflicting some carnage of his own with his ferocious tackling.

"All the boys have pretty big hearts.

"Some of them have come from the caves and are hard as rocks.

"We've been doing tackling drills at training and it feels like you've been hit by a truck. They're pretty tough boys."

Gene said his players were naturally strong and didn't need lots of time in the gym to build strength.

"Everybody back home has to do hard work up in the mountains and like Neville (Costigan) said they're very hard.

"We've drawn the pool of death (with Australia, New Zealand and England) and nobody gives us a chance.

"But we believe in ourselves and that will fire us up."

At this stage a match-shy Morley is likely to start off the bench behind St Helens prop James Graham, recently crowned Super League player of the year.

"Mozza (Morley) hasn't played for a while so we'll introduce him a bit later in the game if that's how we finally go," Smith said of Morley.

"But, if we feel Mozza should start, we may change."

Smith meanwhile has named Leeds' Lee Smith, the Super League final man of the match as a late replacement at fullback, on the wing against PNG ahead of Mark.

Smith is also seeking a meeting with referee Shayne Hayne, who'll make his international debut, to discuss rule interpretations including the ruck area.

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