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NRL stars to line up for Samoa against Cook Islands despite wanting coach axed

By AAP
(Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images)

Anthony Milford, David Nofoaluma and Josh Aloiai will play under Samoa coach Matt Parish in next week’s Pacific test, one year after signing a petition for him to be axed.

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The Samoan trio were each named in a strong squad by Parish on Thursday, ahead of their clash with the Cook Islands at Campbelltown Stadium on June 25.

While the likes of Josh Papali’i, Junior Paulo, Brian To’o and Jarome Luai are unavailable through State of Origin, NRL stars such as Josh Schuster, Luciano Leilua and Martin Taupau will all feature.

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The match marks the first since issues arose within the 20-man Samoa squad were highlighted during the absence of international rugby league due to COVID-19.

In a petition which was addressed to the Samoan prime minister last year, squad members complained of a lack of professionalism and poor results under Parish.

A lack of respect for the Samoan cultural practices and traditions was also cited in the letter.

Milford, Nofoaluma and Aloiai were among those to sign the petition for change, with the letter declaring a vote of no confidence for Parish.

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Parish has since firmly denied the accusations, and claimed he had the support of his players and insisted the Samoan stars had signed the petition unknowing of its contents.

The Samoan coach has held onto his job ever since, despite pushes for the likes of Sonny Bill Williams and Andrew and Matthew Johns to take over.

Samoa have won just one of their past nine tests, having been usurped by Tonga as a power of Pacific rugby league.

They also face a crucial end-of-year World Cup, as the likes of Luai, To’o, Papali’i and Paulo weigh up whether to preference Australian or Samoan selection.

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Samoa should at least still have far more NRL experience than their opponents Cook Islands next Saturday.

Meanwhile Alex Johnston, Justin Olam, David Mead and Lachlan Lam have each been named in the Papua New Guinea squad to face Fiji on the same night.

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Mzilikazi 3 hours ago
How Leinster neutralised 'long-in-the-tooth' La Rochelle

Had hoped you might write an article on this game, Nick. It’s a good one. Things have not gone as smoothly for ROG since beating Leinster last year at the Aviva in the CC final. LAR had the Top 14 Final won till Raymond Rhule missed a simple tackle on the excellent Ntamack, and Toulouse reaped the rewards of just staying in the fight till the death. Then the disruption of the RWC this season. LAR have not handled that well, but they were not alone, and we saw Pau heading the Top 14 table at one stage early season. I would think one of the reasons for the poor showing would have to be that the younger players coming through, and the more mature amongst the group outside the top 25/30, are not as strong as would be hoped for. I note that Romain Sazy retired at the end of last season. He had been with LAR since 2010, and was thus one of their foundation players when they were promoted to Top 14. Records show he ended up with 336 games played with LAR. That is some experience, some rock in the team. He has been replaced for the most part by Ultan Dillane. At 30, Dillane is not young, but given the chances, he may be a fair enough replacement for Sazy. But that won’be for more than a few years. I honestly know little of the pathways into the LAR setup from within France. I did read somewhere a couple of years ago that on the way up to Top 14, the club very successfully picked up players from the academies of other French teams who were not offered places by those teams. These guys were often great signings…can’t find the article right now, so can’t name any….but the Tadgh Beirne type players. So all in all, it will be interesting to see where the replacements for all the older players come from. Only Lleyd’s and Rhule from SA currently, both backs. So maybe a few SA forwards ?? By contrast, Leinster have a pretty clear line of good players coming through in the majority of positions. Props maybe a weak spot ? And they are very fleet footed and shrewd in appointing very good coaches. Or maybe it is also true that very good coaches do very well in the Leinster setup. So, Nick, I would fully concurr that “On the evidence of Saturday’s semi-final between the two clubs, the rebuild in the Bay of Biscay is going to take longer than it is on the east coast of Ireland”

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Sam T 9 hours ago
Jake White: Let me clear up some things

I remember towards the end of the original broadcasting deal for Super rugby with Newscorp that there was talk about the competition expanding to improve negotiations for more money - more content, more cash. Professional rugby was still in its infancy then and I held an opposing view that if Super rugby was a truly valuable competition then it should attract more broadcasters to bid for the rights, thereby increasing the value without needing to add more teams and games. Unfortunately since the game turned professional, the tension between club, talent and country has only grown further. I would argue we’re already at a point in time where the present is the future. The only international competitions that matter are 6N, RC and RWC. The inter-hemisphere tours are only developmental for those competitions. The games that increasingly matter more to fans, sponsors and broadcasters are between the clubs. Particularly for European fans, there are multiple competitions to follow your teams fortunes every week. SA is not Europe but competes in a single continental competition, so the travel component will always be an impediment. It was worse in the bloated days of Super rugby when teams traversed between four continents - Africa, America, Asia and Australia. The percentage of players who represent their country is less than 5% of the professional player base, so the sense of sacrifice isn’t as strong a motivation for the rest who are more focused on playing professional rugby and earning as much from their body as they can. Rugby like cricket created the conundrum it’s constantly fighting a losing battle with.

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