Kiwis vs Samoa 19th Oct 25

[Izz]

No foot on the touch line this time.

Disorganized on that side with CNK off

18-all

 

[Izz]

Samoa bombing tries left, right & centre

 

[Izz]

Brown short? Apparently not. Kiwis back ahead

 

[Beavers Headgear]

Extremely proud of this effort from the kiwis. Feel like we have been hammered by the ref in the 2nd half but have held strong

 

[Izz]

Really surprised Samoa took CHT off. Guess they were still rolling without him, though

Samoa only have themselves to blame. Bombed at least 3 tries in second half

 

[Philip_Smith007]

Oh my hahahaha

Poor CNK

I won’t bag the all effort play from CNK

I will bag the no effort chase back from Isaako

Reminded me of Billy Slater 2008 World Cup final.

 

[Philip_Smith007]

Extremely proud of this effort from the kiwis. Feel like we have been hammered by the ref in the 2nd half but have held strong

Great test match.
Ref seem to have it in for us.

 

[Matua]

Extremely proud of this effort from the kiwis. Feel like we have been hammered by the ref in the 2nd half but have held strong

Yeah, def agree on the ref. Whyte penalty for no arms, Su'a nah your good bro, shoulder charge is fine.

I think we need to move on from CNK. He looks punch drunk.

Tapine and Brown our best, Papali'i put in a good shift. Foran's kicking was average.

Can't fault Crossland's effort but JMK is definitely a better hooker.

Thought we were play Webbyball in the second half.

Anyway, I'm happy for the win.

 

[Philip_Smith007]

Really surprised Samoa took CHT off. Guess they were still rolling without him, though

Samoa only have themselves to blame. Bombed at least 3 tries in second half

CHT made a huge difference for Samoa.

 

[Grizzman]

Awesome match. Really physical, free flowing, fast and skillful. An advertisement for the game,

 

[Philip_Smith007]

Went back and watched girls trys and watch final 8 mins after Kiwis got in front off a Hufanga 90m slips catch and runaway!
Clark (Kiwi 10)should have been in bin final 6mins with a shoulder to the head at NRL standards, but nothing but a penalty.
Some great hits out there!

 

[Blair]

24-18, Kiwis. Final. In case anyone doesn't know. It's set the tone for an entertaining tournament.

 

[Penrose Warrior]

It is a wonderful thing to see international footy with so much fervour about it now. We owe the island nations a massive amount for this - without the support of their players and fan base, it'd be what it was for years, which was underwhelming.

 

[Big Marn]

did anyone watch the 9 coverage? not usually a fan of Joeys analysis but he had the comment of the year at HT when they were reviewing cnk's calamity.
"Charnze has come home at 3am and gone into the fence. Seen that before"

 

[Thatwasnthighref]

It is a wonderful thing to see international footy with so much fervour about it now. We owe the island nations a massive amount for this - without the support of their players and fan base, it'd be what it was for years, which was underwhelming.

Yea man... I know not everyone is thrilled with players that have switched, or entirely convinced about their motivations for doing so, and there’s lots of debate about eligibility rules and tiering etc; all of which is fair enough.

But the end result are games like yesterday… two competitive teams slugging out a proper test match, backed by passionate supporters. The only slight downer was the crowd being disappointingly short of the full house both teams deserved.

 

[Manurewa_Marlins]

Great game. Had a bit of everything in there including howlers from the ref. Thought the Kiwi forwards really stepped yesterday and Foran/Brown can hold their heads high, attacking kicks on the 5th need a bit of thought though. CNK's first booboo was a shocker, second is on the winger's poor chase imo.

Tonga/Samoa is gonna be a banger next round. Katoa field day perhaps?

 

[Grizzman]

I meant to ad to my earlier comment. Tapine and McLean were elite. Papali'i and Leota were really good too. Of the Warriors, Clark was great in his stint, JFH was ok. CNK was not solid but did some good things defensively, had a couple of howlers and is a handbrake on 4th carry. CHT was really good for Samoa, RTS was ok. thoroughly enjoyed the game though!

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

Yea man... I know not everyone is thrilled with players that have switched, or entirely convinced about their motivations for doing so, and there’s lots of debate about eligibility rules and tiering etc; all of which is fair enough.

But the end result are games like yesterday… two competitive teams slugging out a proper test match, backed by passionate supporters. The only slight downer was the crowd being disappointingly short of the full house both teams deserved.

The disappointing crowd is the point though really. I think it’s highly debatable that the rise of pseudo-Samoa and pseudo-Tonga has actually improved the popularity of the international game at all. I certainly don’t see any general upswing, if anything I think there may have been a downturn.

 

[Thatwasnthighref]

The disappointing crowd is the point though really. I think it’s highly debatable that the rise of pseudo-Samoa and pseudo-Tonga has actually improved the popularity of the international game at all. I certainly don’t see any general upswing, if anything I think there may have been a downturn.

I don’t follow… what’s your measure for popularity?

Tonga’s last 4 games v Kiwis have all attracted crowds of over 20k. Games pre ‘17 were rare to start with and when they did happen, attendance was terrible.

Unless you’re saying there’s been a greater than commensurate drop in popularity for other teams? Otherwise Tonga alone has driven an increase in international footy interest…. they’re getting more fixtures than they used to, and they’re far better attended.

 

[Matua]

I don’t follow… what’s your measure for popularity?

Tonga’s last 4 games v Kiwis have all attracted crowds of over 20k. Games pre ‘17 were rare to start with and when they did happen, attendance was terrible.

Unless you’re saying there’s been a greater than commensurate drop in popularity for other teams? Otherwise Tonga alone has driven an increase in international footy interest…. they’re getting more fixtures than they used to, and they’re far better attended.

I think there has been a clear drop in support for the Kiwis. It appears that the PI rise has contributed to a fracturing of support in NZ, and the bumper support for the Warriors is not a reflection of the support for the sport of league in NZ.

I think the Kidwell era did huge damage to the Kiwis brand, but even so, the Madge era should have rebuilt that. It's quite embarrassing that we can't fill Mt Smart for a test where probably 3/4s of the players on the field were NZers (hell a majority when combined were Samoan). Especially when you consider the media hype over league in NZ (which might be more prevalent in the Oz media than a reflection of NZ itself i.e. we get the pro league articles over here but Oz media doesn't care about rugby so we don't get that).

But maybe the very fact that Tonga and Samoa are popular, and eligibility that helps facilitate that (Origin) means that it will negatively impact Kiwis support?

I find it a wee bit confusing TBH, but I'm country over club and I understand many aren't. Anyway, I'm just spitballing off the top of my head.