rugby league

Eden Park is sure to be buzzing with the passionate Samoan fans out in force and the battle up front in the opening 15 minutes will be worth the price of admission alone.

New Kiwis skipper James Fisher-Harris and his Panthers teammate Moses Leota go head to head with Junior Paulo, Stefano Utoikamanu and Terrell May, who added plenty of punch off the bench in the tournament opener.

Samoa will take plenty of confidence from the fact they went further than the Kiwis at last year's World Cup and they continue to grow in confidence on the international stage.

With player of the match Payne Haas and fellow big man Tino Fa’asuamaleaui leading the charge the Kangaroos blew the game open before their rivals had time to settle.

The world champions opened their account in the fifth minute when Haas took a short ball from Isaah Yeo and carried three defenders over the tryline with him to make it 6-0.

Four minutes later it was skipper James Tedesco leaving Izack Tago in his wake on the left edge before Fa’asuamaleaui powered over in the 13th minute and the Kangaroos had a 16-0 lead.

Alongside his Salford team-mate Tim Lafai, Sio received a late call-up to Samoa’s World Cup squad last year due to injuries in Matt Parish’s squad.

Sio didn’t feature in any of the games but he was incredibly proud to be part of the Samoan squad that became the first-ever tier two nation to reach a World Cup final.

“We were just happy to support our brothers but to get the call after the England game we were buzzing,” Sio told Love Rugby League. “We were like little kids in the car talking about how fun it was going to be.

Green guided North Queensland Cowboys to their first National Rugby League (NRL) premiership title in 2015.

As a player, he made 162 appearances across five different clubs during a 10-year career, before retiring in 2004.

At the time of his death, he was the head coach of Queensland in the State of Origin Series.

Queensland Police said there were "no suspicious circumstances" around Green's death and that a report will be prepared for the coroner.

Green's family said they are "devastated" by his loss.

The Warriors put themselves under pressure in the opening stanza after conceding three set re-starts and while they defended well it was only a matter of time before they cracked.

Waqa Blake scored his first try in the 12th minute after Reed Mahoney threw a long pass behind Reagan Campbell-Gillard from dummy half for the Eels centre to stroll over the Warriors line.

The Warriors refused to give up and after a sustained period of pressure on the Parramatta line, Wayde Egan and Adam Pompey combined to put winger Marcelo Montoya over eight minutes before halftime.

The NRL has confirmed Rotorua has been selected to host the annual All Stars double header in 2023.

The event will see the men’s and women’s Māori All Stars tackle the Indigenous All Stars.

It will be the 12th NRL All Stars fixture and the fifth featuring the Māori and Indigenous teams.

The 2022 All Stars games were staged in Sydney in the lead-up to the NRL season, with the Māori triumphing 16-10 in the men’s match and the Indigenous winning the women’s clash 18-8.

The 23-year-old, who will play his sixth game for NSW in the series decider, explained he will be “playing for my family” at the tournament in October.

As it stands, players such as To’o can represent NSW and Queensland in Origin before electing to play for tier-two nations.

But, speaking on Triple M, rugby league pundits explained they believed the system is flawed and players should elect where their future lies early in their careers.

Parramatta duo Dylan Brown and Marata Niukore plus Cronulla Sutherland winger Ronaldo Mulitalo and Penrith prop Moses Leota will all play their first Test for the Kiwis.

Brown is paired in the halves with Melbourne halfback Jahrome Hughes, Mulitalo is on the wing, Niukore is in the centres with the experienced Peta Hiku and Leota is on a potent bench.

New Zealand will host Tonga in Auckland, while Samoa meet Cook Islands and Fiji face Papua New Guinea in a Pacific Test double-header at Campbelltown Stadium on June 25.

The Tests will take place during the NRL’s stand-alone representative round, which features the women’s State of Origin in Canberra on June 24 and Game II of the men’s series between NSW and Queensland in Perth on June 26.

Cronulla wrecking ball Siosifa Talakai was virtually unstoppable in the first half as he scored two tries and laid on three others in arguably the best 40 minute display by any player this season as the Sharks raced to a 32-0 half-time lead.

The Sydney-born Talakai, who played for the junior Kiwis but has pledged his World Cup allegiances to Tonga, also produced three line breaks, two line-break assists, seven tackle breaks and three off-loads while carrying the ball 202 metres in 13 runs at left centre.