With bigger fish to fry later in the tournament, England skipper Jamie Peacock has played down the importance of an upset win over Australia in Sunday night's Telstra Dome showdown.

Don't for a minute get Peacock wrong, he'd love nothing more than a win over the Kangaroos, but the veteran prop knows there are more important contests to come.

It's a lesson learned from his last visit to Australia for the 2006 Tri-Nations, when Great Britain - under Peacock's leadership - upset Australia 23-12 in their preliminary game at the Sydney Football Stadium.

It proved to be their only win of the tournament.

"That wasn't good enough, we carried on like we'd won the competition," Peacock said.

"If we beat Australia, I don't think we'll be celebrating like that - there's no point in it.

"Back then we beat Australia and didn't do anything else in the competition and that's not what we want to do this year." Peacock's words will hardly be what tournament organisers would have wanted to hear with officials desperate for the Australian to get challenged on Sunday night in the wake of New Zealand's poor first up effort against the Kangaroos last week.

England started their campaign off with a scratchy victory over Papua New Guinea in Townsville, but the squad will take confidence from their stunning win over Australia in 2006 with more than half of the squad involved in this week's match having played a part in that memorable upset.

Nine players - Peacock, Paul Wellens, Keith Senior, Leon Pryce, James Roby, Gareth Ellis, Gareth Hock, Jon Wilken and former Roosters firebrand Adrian Morley - will return on Sunday night.

Australian skipper Darren Lockyer will also be back, but like Peacock, he too admitted he would go into the Lions clash with one eye on the money games at the end of next month.

"It is just a pool game but I guess there is a bit at stake in terms of that psychological advantage," Lockyer said.

"We probably got a small psychological advantage over New Zealand with our win (last week) ... if we happen to get a win (on Sunday) I'm sure that physiologically that will be an advantage.

"The ultimate goal is to be in the final and then win it - obviously you want to play well every week because you want to build confidence so that when you get to the back end of the tournament you're playing your best footy."

England were given Thursday off training with the side to have a run at Olympic Park Friday morning, where more should be known as to the status of winger Lee Smith's leg injury.

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