Manu Vatuvei’s keen on making his mark against Samoa, knowing that a good performance could see him back in the starting line-up for the rest of the Four Nations competition.
The big winger expects to be targeted with high balls by the Samoan kickers in what could be a wet track in Whangarei on Saturday and is well aware he’ll have to focus on defence.
“They’ll definitely be testing us and try and get the ball up high, especially if the weather’s wet like today,” he said.
“I have to stick to what I do best and use the skills that have that got me here.”
Vatuvei seemed to cope well enough catching Shaun Johnson’s bombs in the heavy rain at a practice session at Toll Stadium on Wednesday morning.
Kiwis coach Stephen Kearney wasn’t available for comment, but Vatuvei’s perceived defensive weakness under the high ball may have been the reason that he missed out on selection in Saturday’s win over Australia in Brisbane.
Vatuvei said it had been a long season and his body was feeling weary, but a win over Australia was just the kind of motivation he needed ahead of Saturday’s match.
“I always want to wear the Kiwis jersey and I’m really excited to wear it this weekend against Samoa, but we know we’ve got a tough job to do this week,” he said.
He believed Samoa will have taken a lot of confidence from their narrow loss to England last weekend and the Kiwis are expecting a physical encounter.
Vatuvei said hooker Issac Luke’s presence will help them particularly at busting holes open in the Samoan line, but also with his ruck defence.
“They’ve got a lot of dangerous players in their team and we’ll have to watch Pita Godinet and his show-and-goes around the ruck,” he said.
The Kiwis awoke to thunder and lightning on the first morning of their stay in Whangarei but the weather relented to allow them to train before heavy rain cut it short.
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