Toa Samoa

Samoa take early lead against Cook Islands

After a brilliant one-handed pass from Josh Schuster, Taylan May had the opening try, before David Nofoaluma struck on his home patch a couple of minutes later.

When a kick dabbed into the in-goal wrong footed the Cook Islands defenders it gave Izack Tago an absolute gift, and a 14-point lead in the early stages.

     

Loyalty Test: Why Aloiai chose Samoa over Kiwis

Aloiai was named in a wider Kiwis squad ahead of the World Cup and the Manly prop said he had the chance to be one of the 24 players chosen to travel to Auckland ahead of Saturday’s homecoming Test against Tonga, but he decided to commit to Samoa.

In doing so, Aloiai is tied to Samoa for the World Cup, in which the Pacific nation will meet England in the opening match at St James Park as players can only represent one nation during a calendar year - even if they are eligible for another country.

Panthers coach among new faces in Samoa set-up

Samoa, who face Cook Islands in the Pacific Test double-header at Campbelltown on June 25 ahead of the World Cup opener against England at St James Park on October 15, will again be led by Parish, with Webster and Agar joining Geoff Toovey on his coaching staff.

Pritchard, who played eight Tests for Samoa and 256 NRL matches for Penrith, Canterbury and Parramatta, has also joined the staff.

Toa Samoa coach keen to work with Johns Brothers, SBW

Speaking on Fox Sports at the weekend, Matthew Johns said he and younger brother Andrew wanted to help Samoa emulate the success of Tonga in the international game and had spoken with Sonny Bill Williams about forming a possible coaching trio.

Parish has been in charge of Toa Samoa since 2013 but did not view the comments as a threat to his position.

"We're happy to have them involved. The Board is united and we've spoken about it since this has come to air," he said.

Former Toa Samoa player hopes more stars will rep Pacific heritage

Tonga have been celebrated for a revolutionary rise on the way to a number of historic victories over tier one nations, since a number of stars switched their allegiance to reach new heights at the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.

Penrith Panthers playmaker Jarome Luai, who will play in this weekend's NRL grand final, recently reaffirmed his commitment to Toa Samoa.

Puletua said he'd love to see more big names boost the Pacific nations.

Former Toa Samoa player appears on attempted murder charge

The former prop is in police custody facing four charges including one count of attempted murder, and two of grievous bodily harm and one of armed with a dangerous weapon.

Palu appeared today via video link from Tanumalala prison for the first mention of his case which has been adjourned until Monday.

He was arrested over a week ago after he allegedly attacked two men with a machete at the Savalalo fish market.

He has not entered a plea but remains in custody.

     

Former Samoa league player grateful for newborn during lockdown

The 30-year-old second rower captains Toulouse Olympique in the second-tier RFL Championship and has been based in the south-west of France since 2016.

Toulouse made a perfect start to the 2020 season with Mika leading the team, which includes fellow Toa Samoa alumni Frank Winterstein and Harrison Hansen, to five straight wins and top spot in the competition standings before the season was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Bati thrash Toa Samoa to boost promotion hopes

There were signs of disaster from the first touch for Samoa, with a knock-on giving Fiji the advantage just 20 metres from their line.

Capitalising on the early opportunity and with a wrap-around pass from Kane Evans, hooker Joe Lovodua found the ball in his hands to storm under the posts and put first points on the board for the Bati.

The conversion was successful to give them an early 6-0 lead.

Rugby league triple-header all about respect

Fiji will take on Samoa in the first match up of the day, before the Kiwis meet the touring Great Britain Lions as both sides look to recover from significant losses last week.

The third test of the night will see a resurgent Tonga Invitational XIII face off against the world champion Australia.

The Kau To'a say they are ready to take on the Kangaroos with both sides delivering impressive performances last weekend.

Tonga produced a massive defensive effort to beat Great Britain for the first time while Australia convincingly beat New Zealand.

Samoa suspect smoke and mirrors from Fiji

Fiji have included a handful of NRL players in their 18-man squad to face Samoa – headlined by Panthers wrecking ball Viliame Kikau and Storm flyer Suliasi Vunivalu – but they are missing a number of frontline stars who took part in the mid-year victory over Lebanon.

Toovey didn't go into detail about the changes he thinks Fiji will make but he said it appeared Bati team management were keeping a couple of secrets up their sleeve.

"I wouldn't be surprised if that is the case," Toovey told NRL.com.