Samoa wins passionate Pacific Test Featured
Samoa celebrate with the Pacific Test trophy after their hard-fought victory over Tonga
9 May, 2016. After being placed on report for kneeing Kirisome Auva'a in the head, Tonga centre Solomone Kata started walking towards his Samoa opposite and embraced him with a handshake and hug.
Then the pair, who had been attempting to headbutt each other after Auva'a reacted by hitting Kata in the head with the ball, resumed their running battle for the rest of the match.
Kata faces suspension over the incident, as does Samoa captain Frank Pritchard over a high tackle on Michael Oldfield, but nothing summed up the passion and goodwill displayed by both teams in the Pacific Test at Pirtek Stadium on Saturday night better than the 34th-minute exchange between the Warriors star and South Sydney's Auva'a.
Samoa, who will host Fiji in their first home Test at Apia Park on October 8, won 18-6 but Tonga lost no fans in a match that demonstrated everything that is good about rugby league.
The hits were brutal, the defence was desperate, both teams chanced their arm with the ball and the 15,225 crowd - a record for Tests between Samoa and Tonga - loved every minute of it as they sung and cheered at a near deafening levels.
To be honest, it is probably impossible to do justice to this Test but any doubts about international football were put to rest by the wholehearted efforts of two teams who played like it was a World Cup final.
Forget the fact that Anthony Milford opted not to play for Samoa, plenty of other NRL players will want to do so after witnessing the intensity and atmosphere of the fourth annual Pacific Test against Tonga.
Pritchard had flown from England to lead his country and he gave a further example of what the Test meant to him when he launched himself at Oldfield after Tonga winger Mosese Pangai performed a one on one strip on Matthew Wright near his own line to start an 80 metre movement that ended with the 26th minute high shot from the Hull FC forward.
Earlier, Pritchard had upended his Hull FC team-mate Sika Manu, the Tonga captain, on the Samoa tryline and he and brother Kaysa combined to batter Feliti Mateo in another brutal trysaving tackle - and that was all before Pangai scored the first try in the fourth minute after outleaping Wright for a Mateo bomb.
However, Tonga suffered an early setback when five-eighth Samisoni Langi ruptured his ACL in the 10th minute and while former Roosters and Panthers hooker Nate Seluini did an admirable job as his replacement, they did not score another try.
Cowboys wnger Antonio Winterstein scored Samoa first try in the 15th minute when he won an ingoal scramble for a kick by Fa'amanu Brown, who landed a 40th minute penalty goal to put his side ahead 8-6 at halftime.
Cronulla team-mate Ricky Leutele gave Samoa the ascendency when he stood up Tonga centre Vai Toutai and fended off Manu to score in the 55th minute and Wright secured the win with a 75th minute try.
Sydney Morning Herald
