\u201cIt\u2019s probably the most evenly matched Pacific Champs that we\u2019ve had over the last three years or so. It\u2019s good for the international scene as well, a good building stage in the lead up to the World Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are full of powerhouses across the board, it\u2019s hard to pick who is at the top, it\u2019s quite evenly matched.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s something the international scene has been longing for and we\u2019ll finally see it happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a very good build up to the scenes.\u201d<\/p>\n
So which pack is the best? Statistically speaking, data provided by the NRL shows there\u2019s a struck match between them. They\u2019ve looked at all the forwards playing international matches this weekend and looked at how many each nation has, when it comes to those ranked in the top-10 for forward-related stats in their position.<\/p>\n
Once the numbers are crunched, the Kangaroos come out just a smidgen ahead of the Kiwis, with little separating Samoa and Tonga.<\/p>\n
A growing number of players who are eligible for Australia have decided to represent their Pacifika roots. Taumalolo and Andrew Fifita changed the international game when they pledged their allegiance to Tonga eight years ago, paving the way for dozens of other NRL big boppers to do likewise.<\/p>\n
Paulo believes the development will make next year\u2019s Rugby League World Cup the most hotly contested yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s probably something the international scene has been crying out for; we\u2019re used to seeing competition between a couple of sides in that space, but now we\u2019re seeing a genuine four or five teams that can compete and compete well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Loading<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not long before we see more teams start to stack their sides as more people want to represent their heritage. Not only in the Pacific stage, but also some European countries as well. That\u2019s something I\u2019m looking forward to seeing, and I want to be a part of that in the next couple of years \u2026 it will make for great competition.\u201d<\/p>\n
A highlight of Sunday\u2019s Tonga-Samoa clash will be the opening exchanges, as the opposing forwards rip into each other during the so-called softening-up period. But just before that, there\u2019s another memorable confrontation when the teams eye each other off during their respective war cries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a battle on the field, and there\u2019s a battle of the war cries between the Siva Tau and Sipi Tau,\u201d Paulo said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a spectator, I\u2019m sure that\u2019s something they enjoy watching leading up to the game. The feeling we get away from that is a passion that comes before the battle.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always that borderline where you don\u2019t want to cross it, you understand both teams are passionate about their nation and heritage. Once that happens, everyone tries to get a couple of breaths in to settle their nerves.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe atmosphere goes to another level during that, but it\u2019s about being able to compose yourself for the next 80 minutes of footy you need to play.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s probably the most evenly matched Pacific Champs that we\u2019ve had over the last three years or so.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-233116","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}