The Samoa No 6 is Ben Roberts has had an excellent season with Melbourne Storm. He has flourished under the coaching of Craig Bellamy. Kyle Stanley is not a specialist scrum half, for sure, but he is a good player.

The Samoan full back is Tim Simona, who is a specialist centre. But he is lightning fast, and if his kick catching is sound he will be a threat from full back.

The only real weakness in the team is hooker Sio.

Of the 25 man Samoan Squad, 2 were actually born in Samoa, 11 in Australia and 12 in New Zealand.

The Domestic competition in Samoa contained 10 teams in the last completed season (2014) and no players from this competition are included in their 4 Nations Squad. Neither of the Samoan born players (Penani Manumalealii or Tim Lafai) are in the 17 to play England.

This is the first TOP TIER meeting of the countries, with the only previous meeting in 2006 when England hosted Samoa in Hull whilst Great Britain were playing in New Zealand.
Samoa are ranked #7 in the world to England's 3rd place.
Tickets for this game and the following game between the top 2 teams in the world are available from AU $35.68 each (20 QUID) at the 52,500 capacity Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.

England should win this game comfortably.

England should win this game. But whether or not it will win, and whether it will win comfortably, is not assured.

[urlhttps://www.tab.co.nz/sport/#1623[/url
Either an opportunity from Lazy Bookmakers (happened before...Harlequins RL July 20th 2008...we had 5 players banned from the previous weeks brawl with the filthy French Scum but the bookies gave 5/1 on Castleford who were relegated that year).... or an accurate reflection of what should happen this weekend?
You decide, but I'll have a cheeky $50 on Samoa.

This is another gripe i have about International Rugby League. Surely to encourage growth at local level X amount of players should be included in the 25 man squad from the local Comp?

Ben Roberts had an excellent season?????

You are having a laugh!

Wasn't a patch on widdop all season

Don't you mean Benjamin and Timothy?

I came across these great summaries of both England & Samoa .... I think they are pretty spot on!!! England ----> www.guyjest.com/rugby-league-tea ... s-edition/ Samoa ----> www.guyjest.com/rugby-league-tea ... s-edition/ Thoughts?

I came across these great summaries of both England & Samoa .... I think they are pretty spot on!!! England ----> www.guyjest.com/rugby-league-tea ... s-edition/ Samoa ----> www.guyjest.com/rugby-league-tea ... s-edition/ Thoughts?

Yes!

Quote ="Cambop"I came across these great summaries of both England & Samoa .... I think they are pretty spot on!!! England ----> www.guyjest.com/rugby-league-tea ... s-edition/ Samoa ----> www.guyjest.com/rugby-league-tea ... s-edition/ Thoughts?'" This guy jest is a real cynic. The basic fact is that James Graham and the Burgess twins can win it for England. The only backup reinforcements for the following week are O'Loughlin and Whitehead. If England don't beat Samoa it is indeed dire.

Quote ="Cambop"I came across these great summaries of both England & Samoa .... I think they are pretty spot on!!! England ----> www.guyjest.com/rugby-league-tea ... s-edition/ Samoa ----> www.guyjest.com/rugby-league-tea ... s-edition/ Thoughts?'" This guy jest is a real cynic. The basic fact is that James Graham and the Burgess twins can win it for England. The only backup reinforcements for the following week are O'Loughlin and Whitehead. If England don't beat Samoa it is indeed dire.

Samoa were beaten by Fiji weren't they in the World cup? And we beat them pretty convincingly too.

I think it will be hard, as International Rugby should be, but I am looking for an England win.
This will be, in their mind, a target win, but that doesn't mean they will.

Bookies giving Samoa a 14 point start on the handicap, they dont seem to think it will be a walkover.

im looking forward too it anyway, come on England!

They have no spine. We'll win by nearly 20.

it'll be tough up the middle but smith and widdop are a class above.

To suggest that Samoa has no spine when five eighth Benjamin Roberts has had an excellent season with Melbourne Storm, and full back Timothy Simona is one of the fastest players in the NRL, is the height of delusion. Moreover scrum half Kyle Stanley has first grade experience. The only weakness in the Samoa spine is the hooker.

If your delusions are shared by anyone in the England team then England is more likely to lose.

Roberts is poor. If he was any good he would have signed for an NRL team as a back up, instead he's gone to cas.

Simona is an exception talent, but he is a centre and is injury prone.

Kyle Stanley struggled to get a game for a team who played Micheal witt instead.

Sio is average.

Saying that spine is average is generous, they will ship 50 points on at least one occassion in this series.

34:18 to England.

Timothy Simona may have been injury prone playing as a centre, but he is not playing centre in this tournament, and he is not injured now! He is a dynamic player. If he breaks the line nobody in the England team will catch him.

Benjamin Roberts is not poor. He was probably offered more by Castleford than any NRL club could equal. He won man of the match in one of Melbourne's more recent games.

Roberts is crap.

Kyle Stanley is average at best.

Simona is an average centre. Kevin Penny is one of the fastest players in SL, doesn't mean he'd be a dangerous full back. As somebody asked earlier in the thread, do you actually watch NRL games or just highlight reels?

Samoa will stick with England for a little while before eventually falling behind. If England's forwards get on top early then Samoa will be in real trouble, I don't seem them scoring more than 2 or 3 tries with England hitting 30+.

If the nurse will let you switch on the TV early Saturday morning, then try to watch the game.

I've watched every single NRL game this year. How much have you watched?

I'll also be in London doing some work with the Broncos on Friday and Saturday so I guess I'll just have to get the nurse to press record eh?

I watched 4-6 NRL games every week. I made a point of watching every Roosters, and Warriors, and almost every Rabbitohs and Storm game each week.

This match on Saturday will prove who is correct.

Let's have a prediction competition for a bit of fun, furthest score away donates £10 to the Steve Prescott Foundation?

How does that work? Furthest away in score gap or furthest away in total points?

For example if one predicts England 30-20 Samoa and the other predicts England 24-20 Samoa, and the final score is England 16-6 Samoa, which prediction is the loser?

Do they televise the National Rugby League Premiership en France?

Think the fairest way is difference between predicted and actual for each team. For instance:

Actual Score - England 36 - 18 Samoa

Prediction 1 - England 30 - 10 Samoa

Prediction 2 - England 18 - 14 Samoa

Prediction 1 has a difference of 6 points on England and 8 points on Samoa - 14 points difference

Prediction 2 has a difference of 18 points on England and 4 points on Samoa - 22 points difference

Prediction 1 wins. Does that make sense?