Former Dragons and Bulldogs centre Tim Lafai is a late draftee into the Samoa squad as embattled coach Matt Parish seeks to turn his side’s World Cup around following last week’s hammering at the hands of England.
Lafai, now with Salford in the Super League, goes straight into their team for their clash with Greece in Doncaster this Sunday (Monday morning AEDT). His clubmate, Ken Sio, has also been called into the squad and named on a wing.
The moves come as Samoa count the cost of their defeat to England. Alongside the demoralising performance, they also lost Tyrone May to a dislocated hip, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow to a syndesmosis injury and Braden Hamlin-Uele to a calf complaint. Anthony Milford is also suspended after a late hit on Sam Tomkins.
Paris has substantially reshuffled his team after their 60-6 loss, with Izack Tago out of the 19, Nu Brown listed to start at 7 and Ligi Sao promoted to the bench. Chanel Harris-Tavita is in the reserves but may switch to five eighth on game day.
Melbourne winger Xavier Coates is to head home from the World Cup without playing a game after PNG medics decided that the hamstring injury that kept him out of their opener against Tonga would not heal in time for the rest of the tournament.
Coates is one of the Kumuls’ biggest stars but came down with the injury in their captain’s run and had to be replaced by Dan Russell. It was hoped that the injury would prove minor, but scans revealed that it was worse than expected.
Edene Gebbie, who starred on the wing against the Australian PM XIII before travelling, is also not fit and will play no part in the World Cup. PNG could call for further players to their squad but are yet to confirm if they will do so.
(Photo by Graham Denholm/Getty Images)
Veteran forward Korbin Sims has come out of retirement to play for Fiji after an injury crisis left them scratching around for reinforcements.
Sims recently called time on his career after a hard season with Hull KR in the Super League, having previously turned out for the Knights, Broncos and Dragons in the NRL, as well as representing Fiji at the 2013 and 2017 World Cups.
Mikaele Ravalawa, Pio Seci and Joseph Ratuvakacereivalu all suffered injuries in the build-up to Fiji’s opening round defeat to Australia, and coach Wise Kativerata – himself standing in for Joe Rabele, who was hospitalised with a foot complaint – is allowed to call new players into the squad.
Currently, only Korbin Sims has been added. He had been suspended in his final appearance for Hull KR but is able to play against Italy and had been named on the bench.
Mercurial playmaker Billy Magoulias has been named at halfback for Greece in their fixture with Samoa this weekend, fresh off the back of one of the plays of the first round.
Magoulias pulled off a chip kick for Nick Mougios to score against France and, with regular 7 and captain Jordan Meads struck down with the flu, the Newtown Jets lock will get a run at halfback alongside South Sydney’s Lachlan Ilias.
Domestic players Ioannis Nake, Stefanos Bastos and Nikolaos Bosmos have all been named in the squad, alongside Thodoris Nianakis, who featured against the French last week.
Wow, what a season we’ve just had, and now we’re about to be treated to some intriguing international league clashes for the second year…
Tigers rookie Jahream Bula will cap off his exceptional first season in the NRL with representative honours after being named to the Fijian squad…
Scott Sattler played in a 20-team competition and helped start a franchise so he knows what he's talking about when he says he is…
If you followed the recent Rugby League World Cup, you’ll probably have noted that the tournament has both passionate supporters and vocal detractors.
Since the Super League War, Rugby League has failed to cement an international calendar. The historical tours disappeared – in part due to the war but also since the English game transferred to a summer season.
Fiji nearly cause shock of the tournament, but Kiwis battle back to reach semi-finals.
