In the red corner are Addin Fonua-Blake, Jason Taumalolo and Stefano Utoikamanu. Over in the blue corner are Payne Haas, Josh Papalii and Junior Paulo.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No, this isn’t fantasy football. This is international rugby league where the best forwards in the world\u00a0take centre-stage in the battle for global supremacy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Suncorp Stadium will be the arena this weekend, when Tonga take on Samoa in front of 50,000 screaming fans.<\/p>\n
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Eliesa Katoa Try<\/p>\n
While Fonua-Blake is the Tongan leading man, he will be backed up by a star-studded supporting cast. Taumalolo, Utoikamanu, Leka Halasima and Eli Katoa will all bring physicality and skill to the fore.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Samoa will not take a backwards step. Just seven days after a bruising encounter with New Zealand, Haas will again set the tone up front.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The prop finished with 194 run metres and 52 tackles in 79 lung-busting minutes and will be looking to recreate those heroics on Sunday at a ground he knows well.<\/p>\n
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Kiwis v Toa Samoa – Round 1, 2025<\/p>\n
But Samoa are not a one-man band. Papalii and Paulo are two of the most experienced forwards in the game. Jeremiah Nanai, Simi Sasagi and Francis Molo provide youthful experience to beef out a loaded pack.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On the other side of the globe, 60,000 fans are set to pile into Wembley Stadium to watch the Kangaroos take on England in the opening match of the Ashes series.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The English have built their team around a group of hard-nosed forwards who will never take a backwards step.<\/p>\n
Australian fans have spent the past six months watching Morgan Smithies, Kai Pearce-Paul and John Bateman dominate the NRL. Morgan Knowles may not yet be a household name but he’s out to make a statement before he joins the Dolphins next year.<\/p>\n
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Still the pinnacle: Yeo keen to start Ashes assault<\/p>\n
On Saturday, the England forwards will look to take down a star-studded Kangaroos pack led by Isaah Yeo and Tino Fa’asuamaleaui. Angus Crichton, Hudson Young and Lindsay Collins will provide additional muscle for a match set to be decided by the battle up front.<\/p>\n
Waiting in the wings are the Kiwis, fresh off a tense victory over Samoa last weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Joe Tapine and James Fisher-Harris set the tone up front, supported by Isaiah Papali’i, Moses Leota and Briton Nikora.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Just a reminder, this isn’t fantasy football. This is international rugby league.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Having toppled the Samoans, New Zealand will get the chance to assert their status as the world’s best forward pack when they take on Tonga at a heaving Eden Park next weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pack mentality
\nTonga<\/p>\n
Addin Fonua-Blake
Siliva Havili
Stefano Utoikamanu
Siua Wong
Eliesa\u00a0Katoa
Jason Taumalolo<\/p>\n
Samoa<\/p>\n
Josh Papalii
Jazz Tevaga
Payne Haas
Jeremiah Nanai
Simi Sasagi
Junior Paulo<\/p>\n
Kangaroos<\/p>\n
Pat Carrigan
Harry Grant
Tino Fa\u2019asuamaleaui
Angus Crichton
Hudson Young
Isaah Yeo<\/p>\n
Kiwis<\/p>\n
James Fisher-Harris
Jeremy Marshall-King
Moses Leota
Briton Nikora
Isaiah Papali’i
Joe Tapine<\/p>\n
England<\/p>\n
Ethan Havard
Daryl Clark
Matty Lees
John Bateman
Morgan Smithies
Kai Pearce-Paul
(likely pack for Wembley)<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
So who has the best forward pack in the world? It’s time to have your say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the red corner are Addin Fonua-Blake, Jason Taumalolo and Stefano Utoikamanu. Over in the blue corner are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233413,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-233412","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\/233412","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=233412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}