On the game, very enjoyable to watch. Love the intensity of the war cries at the start.
Loved the way Samoa took to the match in the first 20 minutes, their ball play at the line was outstanding. A few of the touches from the likes of Lauitiiti, Solomona and Puletua shows how skillful they are, and how only if they could get fit for an NRL team how devastating they could all be. Solomona in particular has outstanding ball skills. Pita Godinet who is with the Warriors next year... didn't impress me to be honest. If there was one thing Samoa lacked off the back of their great start was someone to control it and then execute a play to get them over the line. Perhaps he's more of a hooker.
For the Kiwis, Greg Eastwood stood out at prop. Top footwork at the line put him over the advantage line many times. Nathan Fien played well at halfback, incisive and direct. Benji when he ran the ball in the first half was dangerous. SKD looked the goods. Nightingale, complete footballer. Does it all and is horribly underrated. And Mannering when he came on and played centre showed some great touches to create three tries. Leuluai out of dummy half was quite incisive too.
Entertaining game, the Kiwis need to improve their goal kicking and tighten up their completion rate a little. Otherwise they look good to go.
