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Pacific rivals Samoa and Tonga do battle today with both teams desperate to secure a maiden win in the Pacific Nations Cup. Join The Roar for live scores from 12:10pm AEST.
It has been a disappointing June international window for both Samoa and Tonga, with both teams winless after playing both Georgia and Fiji respectively.
Indeed both Samoa and Tonga held potential match-winning leads against Fiji in the Pacific Nations Cup over the past fortnight, but failed to secure the win.
To rub salt into the wound, Georgia managed to secure a win and a draw against Tonga and Samoa respectively, despite both islander nations playing in front of vocal home crowds.
These current results continue a worrying trend for Samoan and Tongan rugby. Both nations on their day can play enterprising rugby, but they lack the ability to play the percentages properly against the better teams in World Rugby.
With Samoa and Tonga desperate for victory today, expect another close contest between rivals who never give an inch against one another.
Having squandered big leads against Fiji, the result of today’s contest will be determined by how well Tonga and Samoa are able to play when ahead on the scoreboard.
Judging from their recent performances, Samoa and Tonga do possess issues when attempting to close out matches, so it will be interesting to see which side can keep its composure when the game is in the balance.
Despite underperforming in recent matches, Samoa appears to be in the better form compared to Tonga and should do enough to secure a narrow win.
Samoa by 6
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Queensland have pushed the Hurricanes and the Blues giving the Reds coach confidence they can match it with the top teams.
Queensland led by seven late in the game, but conceded two late tries to the Kiwi side who claimed a late victory.
The Queensland winger was making his starting debut and he made his tries look like he was a veteran in that position.
Queensland led by seven points with six minutes remaining but the Kiwi side scored two tries - one after the 80 minutes to snatch…
But the winger's three tries weren't enough as the Blues stole a late win 41-37.