AUSTRALIA will be treating Saturday’s Gillette Four Nations match against England as a major semi-final, according to Jarryd Hayne.

The Kangaroos have left themselves little room for error after being held to a 20- 20 draw by New Zealand in their opening match and know defeat at Wigan’s DW Stadium would leave their hopes of qualifying for the final hanging by a thread.

‘‘We lose this game, we’re out of the tournament, pretty much,’’ said Hayne. ‘‘This is the major semi-final for us.

It’s massive and we need to put our best foot forward.’’ Victory for England would take them straight through to the November 14 final and Hayne, the player of the year after an outstanding season in the NRL, is expecting Tony Smith’s men to make life difficult for them on Saturday.

Smith has virtually re-built the England backline after a disappointing World Cup and Hayne admits there are a host of unfamiliar faces outside the pack.

‘‘England will be tough,’’ he said. ‘‘They’ve a good forward pack. Something they always lacked was a backline but they’ve re-shaped that and they’re looking pretty dangerous.

‘‘In the World Cup there were a lot of senior players – Keith Senior, Leon Pryce etc – and the other night I don’t think I recognised anyone.

‘‘But it obviously worked because they had a good win, even though it took a while for them to get going. It makes for a good game.

‘‘If we play like we did against New Zealand, we’ll get our pants pulled down.’’ The 21-year-old Hayne, whose Fijian father Manoa Thompson had a spell with Warrington in the 1990s, played for Fiji in the World Cup after being left out of the Kangaroos squad and was grateful for their help in turning around both his life and his career.

The Batis attributed their success in reaching the semifinals to their religion and Hayne was happy to throw himself into their beliefs.

‘‘Being in the Fiji World Cup team had a major influence on the person I am and way I look at life,’’ said Hayne.

‘‘I’ve got a talent and I was pretty much abusing it. Now I’m going forward and doing my best to get the best out of the talent I have.

‘‘Not getting picked for Australia was a bit of slap in the face.”