{"id":239807,"date":"2025-10-25T12:04:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T12:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/239807\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T12:04:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T12:04:09","slug":"nrl-2025-pacific-championships-2025-mens-and-womens-explainer-tonga-samoa-png-kiwis-cook-islands-fiji-jillaroos-week-2-team-lists-match-highlights-judiciary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/239807\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2025, Pacific Championships 2025, men’s and women’s, explainer, Tonga, Samoa, PNG. Kiwis. Cook Islands, Fiji. Jillaroos, week 2, team lists, match highlights, judiciary"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2025 Pacific Championships go up a gear in week two when Pacific powerhouses Tonga and Samoa go head-to-head at Suncorp Stadium.<\/p>\n

Samoa are out to regroup after a physical encounter with the Kiwis last Sunday that has put a dent in their forward stocks with Ata Mariota and Jaydn Su’A sidelined under concussion protocols although Terrell May is on track to return from a hamstring injury that kept him out last week.<\/p>\n

They face a Tonga XIII outfit primed and ready for their opening match with Addin Fonua-Blake, Stefano Utoikamanu and Eli Katoa set to put it all on the line for their country although Jason Taumalolo is still recovering from knee surgery and won’t line up at Suncorp.<\/p>\n

A magical moment for winger Daniel Tupou and hooker Siliva Havili who will equal Tui Lolohea\u2019s record of 22 Tests for Tonga.<\/p>\n

A crowd surpassing 40,000 fans is set to cram into Suncorp Stadium for Sunday’s showdown, with tickets selling fast<\/a> to the double-header.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The last time the two great rivals met was the 2022 World Cup where Samoa snuck home 20-8 in a thriller in Warrington.<\/p>\n

With the top two sides in the Pacific Cup standings to meet in the Final in Sydney on November 9, Samoa have no margin for error against Tonga after going down to the Kiwis in Auckland.<\/p>\n

Also on show in Brisbane on Sunday are the Australian Jillaroos. who can expect a bruising battle against a Fetu Samoa team that pushed the Kiwi Ferns to the limit in Auckland.<\/p>\n

Remarkably, the Fetu led 20-0 at the break and looked to be on track for one of the biggest upsets in the history of the women’s game before the home side steadied and stormed home to win 22-20.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the men\u2019s and women\u2019s Pacific Bowl tournaments again take centre stage at Santos Stadium in Port Moresby and the locals are in for a treat with the Kumuls strutting their stuff against Cook Islands.<\/p>\n

After sitting out week one, the Kumuls launched their bid for Pacific Bowl glory in style with a 40-28 victory inspired by a double from Robert Derby, who has now scored eight tries in his last seven Tests.<\/p>\n

The Kumuls have now won four of their past five Test matches and square off against Fiji Bati in week three with the Pacific Bowl title on the line.<\/p>\n

Cook Islands now turn their focus to a World Cup qualifier against South Africa in Sydney on November 9.<\/p>\n


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Cook Island Moana crowned Pacific Bowl Champions<\/p>\n

In the women’s it was an historic day for Cook Islands as they downed Tonga by 18 points to register back-to-back Test victories for the first time in their history.<\/p>\n

The Moana are the Pacific Bowl champions for 2025 on the back of wins over PNG Orchids and Tonga XIII in which they racked up 76 points and conceded only 30.<\/p>\n

Be part of the action! Get your Pacific Championships tickets HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

Pacific Championships Week 2
\nBowl: PNG Kumuls 40 beat Cook Islands Aitu 28 at Santos National Football Stadium, Port Moresby<\/p>\n


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Last time they met: Tonga v Samoa<\/p>\n

Tale of the Tape<\/p>\n

Tonga have won two of their past three Tests against Samoa.
\nToa Samoa have lost their last six Test matches.
\nCaptain Jason Taumalolo will play his 20th Test for Tonga.
\nCo-captain Junior Paulo will play a record 19th Test for Toa Samoa.
\nDaniel Tupou and Siliva Havili will equal Tui Lolohea\u2019s record of 22 Tests for Tonga.<\/p>\n

Bowl: Cook Islands Moana 42 beat Tonga XIII 24 at Santos National Football Stadium, Port Moresby<\/p>\n


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Moana v Tonga XIII<\/p>\n


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Powerful Pe’e from the Moana<\/p>\n

Cup: Jillaroos v Fetu Samoa at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane<\/p>\n


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Inside Camp: Jess Skinner<\/p>\n

Tale of the Tape<\/p>\n

Jillaroos co-captain Kezie Apps will make her 20th Test appearance.
\nFetu Samoa\u2019s team has an average age of just 21.
\nThe Jillaroos have won 18 of their last 19 Test matches.
\nFetu Samoa winger Jessica Patea has scored four tries in four Test appearances.
\nThe Jillaroos have won both Tests against Fetu Samoa (40-12 in 2003 and 42-14 in 2011.<\/p>\n


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Classic: Samoa v Tonga, 2015<\/p>\n

How it Works
\nPacific Cup<\/p>\n

All teams face each other once and the top two teams will meet in the Final.<\/p>\n

Pacific Bowl<\/p>\n

All teams face each other once and the top ranked team after the three rounds will be the winner of the Pacific Bowl.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025 Pacific Championships go up a gear in week two when Pacific powerhouses Tonga and Samoa go…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-239807","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\/239807","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=239807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}