Samoa vs Tonga, confirmed.

[flippikat]

This weekend definitely needs to expand to include png v Fiji next year. The Cook Islands can be included somewhere as well, perhaps v the USA.

If we get stand-alone weekends for Origin, we could have the following play out over 4 weekends.

For the first 3 weekends:
* State of Origin: NSW v Qld (3 matches)
* State of Origin Under 20s: NSW v Qld (3 matches - curtain raisers for the seniors)

* NZ Origin: Auckland v the rest (3 matches)

* Pacific 4-Nations: Fiji, Samoa, Tonga & PNG.
Each team plays the other once once, and the team with the most wins gets the trophy. (for-and-against breaks tie at the top of the table)

Then you could have NZ v Australia in the 4th weekend, while NZ Maori play the winner of the Pacific 4-Nations.

 

[GAZF]

anyone gonna talk about the pitch invasions??

same thing happened when samoa played ireland at parramatta stadium during the world cup,i was at that game and there was a nasty atmosphere towards the end with 'samoan' kids invading the pitch,one took aim at pat richards while he lined up a conversion...also police & stewards got knocked about...i saw a policewoman get knocked to the ground...

maybe next year tonga v samoa should be a stand alone game,with a early kick off and no alcohol sold in the ground and maybe a segregation of fans...

The first flag planted was funny but I guess letting one person do it means that everyone else thinks its ok. Maybe shift the game to Sunday 2pm next year.

 

[The Electric Horseman]

I wouldn't have really had a problem had it occurred after fulltime like when the teams played at Penrith in 2008. But the fact that the teams couldn't finish a TEST MATCH I find very disrespectful to the players, nations and the game itself.
When i arrived i was actually surprised to see the lack of security on the field, following the pitch invasion in 2008 at the same ground.

 

[The Enforcer]

I wouldn't have really had a problem had it occurred after fulltime like when the teams played at Penrith in 2008. But the fact that the teams couldn't finish a TEST MATCH I find very disrespectful to the players, nations and the game itself.
When i arrived i was actually surprised to see the lack of security on the field, following the pitch invasion in 2008 at the same ground.

Probably because most of the security guards were there as spectators.

 

[Panther_Daz]

As I said in the match thread the organisers clearly didn't budget for the crowd they got.

 

[hitman51]

I wouldn't have really had a problem had it occurred after fulltime like when the teams played at Penrith in 2008. But the fact that the teams couldn't finish a TEST MATCH I find very disrespectful to the players, nations and the game itself.
When i arrived i was actually surprised to see the lack of security on the field, following the pitch invasion in 2008 at the same ground.

Cant really blame the Tonga fans for invading the pitch. It was a massive win for them beating Samoa in anything is rare for Tongans these days a win like that for them with that score line is huge. But security need to sort this stuff out for the next game. Well done Tonga what a performance from them that scoreline will certainly hurt the Toa Samoa. That would probably be the squad that Tonga will take to the world cup where it was more of a experimental squad for Samoa as so many players that could played for them last night made themselves unavailable. Most of those Samoan boys played themselves out of any chance of being at the world cup couldn't believe the lack of effort by some of them.

 

[siv]

If we get stand-alone weekends for Origin, we could have the following play out over 4 weekends.

For the first 3 weekends:
* State of Origin: NSW v Qld (3 matches)
* State of Origin Under 20s: NSW v Qld (3 matches - curtain raisers for the seniors)

* NZ Origin: Auckland v the rest (3 matches)

* Pacific 4-Nations: Fiji, Samoa, Tonga & PNG.
Each team plays the other once once, and the team with the most wins gets the trophy. (for-and-against breaks tie at the top of the table)

Then you could have NZ v Australia in the 4th weekend, while NZ Maori play the winner of the Pacific 4-Nations.

Agree

Rep weekends should be worlwide

Or best 4 Nation Pacific Cup NZ PNG Fiji Cook Isl

 

[Wizardman]

That test match has made this weekend worthwhile....by far the highlight of the weekend for me. It must be kept in the calender at all costs.

What struck me was the passion in which that game was played. Some of those guys were much more passionate than when they played for the Kiwis.

 

[AusKnightRKO]

this game needs to be played atleast once a year, and if it is, then istead of playing for NZ, most of these blokes will play for there home nations.

 

[playdaball]

then istead of playing for NZ, most of these blokes will play for there home nations.

Or Australia!

 

[Brutus]

Nobody doubts their passion but the constant switching of nations in the past is whats idiotic. Hopefully more matches like this convince players to stick to the country they represent. And hopefully these type of games encourage people to take up rugby league in Samoa and tonga and increases the sports development in these countries which is far more important than developing the sport within these communities in western Sydney.


And yes, what did fatty say?

Fatty was going on about how boring this weekend was without the NRL. John Gibbs responded by saying there's a Tonga v Samoa Test match on tonight. Fatty's response?? He started snoring, then followed it up with who cares. "What nevilles are playing this game". Gibbsy read out some of the names, including Michael Oldfield then Fatty started laughing and making jokes about Oldfield playing for Tonga.

Gibbs read out an email later on accusing Fatty of showing more interest in AFL than grassroots rugby league and he responded by saying more people would be interested in the AFL results than some mickey mouse rugby league Test between Tonga and Samoa.

 

[Bovrick]

If we get stand-alone weekends for Origin, we could have the following play out over 4 weekends.

For the first 3 weekends:
* State of Origin: NSW v Qld (3 matches)
* State of Origin Under 20s: NSW v Qld (3 matches - curtain raisers for the seniors)

* NZ Origin: Auckland v the rest (3 matches)

* Pacific 4-Nations: Fiji, Samoa, Tonga & PNG.
Each team plays the other once once, and the team with the most wins gets the trophy. (for-and-against breaks tie at the top of the table)

Then you could have NZ v Australia in the 4th weekend, while NZ Maori play the winner of the Pacific 4-Nations.

Agree

Rep weekends should be worlwide

Or best 4 Nation Pacific Cup NZ PNG Fiji Cook Isl

Agreed. Something along the lines of this over 4 rep weekends would be great.

Australia: ANZAC test, State of Origin, U20SoO, (City v Country)
New Zealand (maybe other 'realm of' Nations, Cook Islands etc for rep games?): ANZAC test, Auckland v Islands (or some other test)
PNG, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga: Pacific Cup
USA, Jamaica, Canada, South Africa: Atlantic Cup

and then in Europe

England: Red Rose v White Rose (WotR), or vs Exiles, or test matches with other European nations. Just something anyway.
France, Wales, Scotland, Ireland: European Cup
Italy, Serbia, Lebanon, Russia (etc?): European Shield
and maybe coincide the Challenge Cup Final around this time too, to bring it away from the SL playoffs, and on to a showpiece round.

 

[RedVee]

I was surprised by the result as a expected a Samoa win. Was at the Stone music festival yesterday, just about to watch the game on IQ.
Steve Mascord was tweeting however, which was useful! Surprised when he said he wasn't submitting a story to the paper on it.

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

Probably because most of the security guards were there as spectators.

Never a truer word said.

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

Agree though about better security, it's not on these days in any sport.

 

[RedVee]

Very good performance by Tonga. The Scots should have a look at this game.

 

[Illiterate]

If we get stand-alone weekends for Origin, we could have the following play out over 4 weekends.

For the first 3 weekends:
* State of Origin: NSW v Qld (3 matches)
* State of Origin Under 20s: NSW v Qld (3 matches - curtain raisers for the seniors)

* NZ Origin: Auckland v the rest (3 matches)

* Pacific 4-Nations: Fiji, Samoa, Tonga & PNG.
Each team plays the other once once, and the team with the most wins gets the trophy. (for-and-against breaks tie at the top of the table)

Then you could have NZ v Australia in the 4th weekend, while NZ Maori play the winner of the Pacific 4-Nations.

Change the state of origin under 20s to under 23s
Have a 3 test series of nz v England and At the end of every year nz and England alternate every year and play the Aussie in a 3 match series and I like your idea.

 

[Springs]

Everyone talks about New Zealand Origin, but not many players are going to take pride in playing for a team called 'the rest'.

Fatty was going on about how boring this weekend was without the NRL. John Gibbs responded by saying there's a Tonga v Samoa Test match on tonight. Fatty's response?? He started snoring, then followed it up with who cares. "What nevilles are playing this game". Gibbsy read out some of the names, including Michael Oldfield then Fatty started laughing and making jokes about Oldfield playing for Tonga.

Gibbs read out an email later on accusing Fatty of showing more interest in AFL than grassroots rugby league and he responded by saying more people would be interested in the AFL results than some mickey mouse rugby league Test between Tonga and Samoa.

Last respect for him gone. Should say no one cares to my Tongan team mates who partied up and down the street with Tongan flags last night.

And by the way if we see Mateo, Uate, Tedesco etc sitting out the World Cup because they played in City/Country it will be a huge waste. They didn't care about Minichiello playing for Italy a few years ago in the qualifiers as they were looking to pick him again in Origin last year.

 

[hutch]

Fatty was going on about how boring this weekend was without the NRL. John Gibbs responded by saying there's a Tonga v Samoa Test match on tonight. Fatty's response?? He started snoring, then followed it up with who cares. "What nevilles are playing this game". Gibbsy read out some of the names, including Michael Oldfield then Fatty started laughing and making jokes about Oldfield playing for Tonga.

Gibbs read out an email later on accusing Fatty of showing more interest in AFL than grassroots rugby league and he responded by saying more people would be interested in the AFL results than some mickey mouse rugby league Test between Tonga and Samoa.

What a tool. Absolutely clueless about rugby league! And to think he has been on prime time tv for 20 years as a face of our sport.

 

[siv]

Agreed. Something along the lines of this over 4 rep weekends would be great.

Australia: ANZAC test, State of Origin, U20SoO, (City v Country)
New Zealand (maybe other 'realm of' Nations, Cook Islands etc for rep games?): ANZAC test, Auckland v Islands (or some other test)
PNG, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga: Pacific Cup
USA, Jamaica, Canada, South Africa: Atlantic Cup

and then in Europe

England: Red Rose v White Rose (WotR), or vs Exiles, or test matches with other European nations. Just something anyway.
France, Wales, Scotland, Ireland: European Cup
Italy, Serbia, Lebanon, Russia (etc?): European Shield
and maybe coincide the Challenge Cup Final around this time too, to bring it away from the SL playoffs, and on to a showpiece round.

I was thinking something like this on 3 dedicated worldwide rep games

NSW CvC and a QLD CvC then SOO I II With SOO III played mid week

and in parallel best 4 Pacific Nation play a 3 round robin series eg NZ PNG Tonga Samoa

Then you could also play a 4 Nation Euro Cup England France Wales Ireland

Asia Cup and America's Cup could also be scheduled on these rep weekends