{"id":262375,"date":"2025-11-04T16:59:26","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T16:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/262375\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T16:59:26","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T16:59:26","slug":"nrl-stars-eye-own-piece-of-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/262375\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL stars eye own piece of history"},"content":{"rendered":"

Samoa’s players are on the verge of one the greatest feats in the nation’s sporting history, as they eye off a maiden rugby league trophy.<\/p>\n

Three years after reaching the World Cup final in England, Samoa’s senior players believe they are better placed now than when they lost to Australia at Old Trafford in 2022.<\/p>\n

Sunday’s Pacific Cup decider will mark one of the biggest games in the team’s history, while also acting as something of a precursor to next year’s World Cup in Australia and Papua New Guinea.<\/p>\n

Samoa’s 2010 World Sevens title is widely regarded as the nation’s finest sporting moment, and one the likes of co-captain Junior Paulo still point to.<\/p>\n

Weightlifter Ele Opeloge won silver in the women’s 75kg class at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, while Alex Rose took bronze in the men’s discus at this year’s World Athletics Championships.<\/p>\n

But victory over the Kiwis at CommBank Stadium would also make them the first nation other than Australia or New Zealand to win a major international rugby league trophy this century.<\/p>\n

\"Samoa<\/p>\n

Samoa players and officials celebrate their Hong Kong Sevens triumph over New Zealand. (AP PHOTO)<\/p>\n

“It would be huge,” halfback Jarome Luai said.<\/p>\n

“It hasn’t been done before. I am a bit of a realist and I understand there is a bit of work to do before that.<\/p>\n

“But it would be massive for our country and our small nation.”<\/p>\n

Paulo can also sense the significance of what may unfold.<\/p>\n

\"(L-R)<\/p>\n

Jarome Luai and Junior Paulo are all smiles ahead of Samoa’s high-stakes clash. (Dan Himbrechts\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

“It would be a massive milestone for Samoan rugby league in general,” the co-captain said.<\/p>\n

“But there is a lot of preparation that goes before it.<\/p>\n

“The vision is to be at the end of the game holding the trophy, but you have to put in a lot of work and it started with us getting into camp Sunday.”<\/p>\n

Samoa on Tuesday lost second-rower Jeremiah Nanai to a shoulder injury for Sunday’s final, while New Zealand are unchanged.<\/p>\n

Thousands of people attended a Samoan fan day in Sydney on Tuesday afternoon, while videos of Samoan fans parading in the streets of Apia following the side’s 34-6 win over Tonga last month have also spread online.<\/p>\n

\"Samoa<\/p>\n

Samoa fans helped pack out Suncorp Stadium for the clash against Tonga. (Dave Hunt\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

“It’s been unreal,” Paulo said.<\/p>\n

“We saw in New Zealand and Samoa, America, all over the world, parades happening. So you can only imagine what Sunday is going to be like.”<\/p>\n

To win, Samoa will need to claim their first victory over a tier-one side, having never beaten Australia, New Zealand, England or Great Britain.<\/p>\n

But they are arguably better placed than ever, with Payne Haas in the front row and Blaize Talagi partnering Luai in the halves.<\/p>\n

“Each year has been a stepping stone, and each game has been a stepping stone from that World Cup,” Luai said.<\/p>\n

“We haven’t had many results under the belt.<\/p>\n

“But the experience and the new blood that we’ve played, getting a few of the old guys back into camp has been great for everyone coming through.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Samoa’s players are on the verge of one the greatest feats in the nation’s sporting history, as they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,4582,4536,761,762,1736,158,159,5993,85],"class_list":["post-262375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-jarome-luai","tag-junior-paulo","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-new-zealand","tag-nrl","tag-rugby-league","tag-samoa","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262375","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=262375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}