Captain Frank Pritchard and halfback Ben Roberts, who missed Saturday’s 14-14 draw with Scotland, will return to the Samoa side for Friday’s quarter-final against Australia in Darwin, while lock Leeson Ah Mau has been recalled to the starting line-up. Papua New Guinea coach Michael Marum has also named star five-eighth Ase Boas for Sunday’s quarter-final showdown with England in Melbourne…
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Scotland may have been reeling earlier in the week from the impact of three players having been sent home, but they recovered their spirit to secure a 14-14 draw with Samoa in Cairns, outplaying Samoa for much of the game largely thanks to their playmaker Danny Addy. Sadly for the Scots, however, Samoa will progress to the quarter-finals with a…
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England have registered a convincing 30-10 victory over Samoa at Campbelltown Stadium today, taking a 14-0 lead and always looking in command to justify the decision to take the England squad for a mid-season Test match in Australia. They had a great start to the match, with a strong tackle by Elliott Whitehead forcing a Samoan error in the first set. A James…
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Fiji and Samoa held on to win their Pacific Test matches against Papua New Guinea and Tonga respectively in front of 12,336 boisterous fans at CBus Super Stadium today. In the first game of the double-header Fiji defeated PNG 22-10, while in the second the Samoans just held on to beat Tonga 18-16 on a day that had all the…
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Former England coach Tony Smith believes the national team is improving and a victory over Australia and New Zealand will come. England suffered close losses against both the Kangaroos and Kiwis in the recent Four Nations, missing out of the tournament’s final. Smith, who coached Great Britain in 2007 and led England at the 2008 World Cup, said England was…
Read MoreAfter beating Samoa 44-18 win in Wollongong, the Australians will take on the Kiwis on Saturday night at Wellington in a replay of last year’s World Cup Final. The Australians were too strong for the Pacific Islanders, scoring five first-half tries to lead 28-6 at half-time. And they were soon on the scoreboard as Greg Inglis created the space for…
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Miss the game on Saturday? Worry not, here you can find extensive video highlights from New Zealand v Samoa at Toll Stadium in Whangarei. What do you think about this story? Discuss this and much more on or free fans’ forum. For more Rugby League news and features, subscribe to League Express newspaper and Rugby League World magazine. You can…
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Shaun Kenny-Dowall rescued New Zealand with a try four minutes from time, as the Kiwis scraped home 14-12 against a committed and enthusiastic Samoan team in Whangerei today. In front of an enthusiastic and noisy crowd of 16,912 spectators, the Samoans took an early lead when Tautau Moga,who had replaced Antonio Winterstein on the wing, intercepted a loose New Zealand pass…
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I always regarded the Samoa game on Saturday as a giant banana skin waiting to cause England serious problems. So I’m grateful for small mercies. The only thing that mattered was that England should win the game. The margin didn’t matter, and, to be fair, the manner of victory didn’t much matter either. The English team was playing just two…
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New Zealand v Samoa Saturday November 1, 4pm (local), Toll Stadium New Zealand 1 Peta Hiku 2 Jason Nightingale 3 Dean Whare 4 Shaun Kenny-Dowall 5 Manu Vatuvei 6 Kieran Foran 7 Shaun Johnson 8 Jesse Bromwich 9 Issac Luke 10 Adam Blair 11 Simon Mannering (c) 12 Kevin Proctor 13 Jason Taumalolo Substitutes 14 Lewis Brown 15 Suaia Matagi…
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