FORMER Leeds hooker James Segeyaro says Papua New Guinea are confident of pulling off a World Cup upset against England.

The 27-year-old Segeyaro, who spent the last three months of the 2016 Super League season with the Rhinos and has not ruled out a return, has played a key role in the Kumuls' impressive march to the quarter-finals.

He sees no reason why their tournament should end at Melbourne's Rectangular Stadium on Sunday.

Michael Marum's team capitalised on home advantage in the group stages with victories over Wales, Ireland and the United States in the sultry heat of Port Moresby. Although temperatures have dropped to around 22 degrees in Melbourne, Segeyaro likes his team's chances as they enter the knock-out stages.

"Playing in the heat would work in our favour – I think it's like minus two in England now – but we're here in Melbourne and we'll make the most of it," Segeyaro said at the Kumuls' training base on the outskirts of Melbourne.

"It's been unreal so far. It's been a pretty overwhelming experience. Hopefully we'll put in a good performance on Sunday afternoon. I'm pretty confident.

"We've got the best squad I've been involved in. The boys like the physical side of things and I think we have a good chance on Sunday."

Segeyaro played a significant role in Leeds' successful bid to stave off the threat of relegation in 2016, helping them to nine wins from his 10 games, but caused a furore when he refused to report back for pre-season training, citing homesickness.

Leeds threatened legal action before eventually settling out of court and the player subsequently rejoined the NRL with Cronulla.

Segeyaro says he has kept in touch with several of his old team-mates, including house-mate Brett Delaney, and spoke with coach Brian McDermott when he took his United States team to Port Moresby for last weekend's final group game.

"It was good to catch up with Mac and a couple of other boys as well," Segeyaro said. "They had a great year and congratulations to them for winning the Grand Final. Hopefully there's no bad blood.

"I really enjoyed my time there, the fans, the whole area, how the club works. They really care for you. If I ever had the opportunity to go back I would, at the back end of my career. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it was a great experience."

Segeyaro will on Sunday go up against two of his old team-mates, Ryan Hall and Kallum Watkins, who he believes would be a big hit in the NRL.

"Kallum's a freak," he said. "I hoped he'd play over here in the NRL, he'd have been really good.

"Ryan is so consistent, every time he puts an England jumper on he's always bringing the ball back hard, starting the sets off well.

"England have got a really good team. Their forwards are definitely the backbone of the team with Sam (Burgess) coming back and James (Graham) is an outstanding player. He's one of the massive leaders in the team."