{"id":273608,"date":"2025-11-09T16:55:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T16:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/273608\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T16:55:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T16:55:12","slug":"new-zealand-beats-samoa-in-final-as-erin-clark-dylan-brown-charnze-nicoll-klokstad-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/273608\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand beats Samoa in final as Erin Clark, Dylan Brown, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad star"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New Zealand Kiwis<\/a> have won the Pacific Championships final after a dominant second-half surge saw them beat down Toa Samoa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A scintillating second half saw five tries from the Kiwi side that cut its deficit to Samoa and snatched the title with a final score of 36-14. <\/p>\n

“Absolutely brilliant football,” said Phil Gould on Nine. “The quality of the [football] … The Pacific is the future of our sport and to think it’s gotten to this is incredible.”<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Two Kiwis sin-binned in brutal clash as Aussies win title<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: ‘Don’t be surprised’: Tubby’s massive selection tip<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Player ratings: ‘Foolish’ decision crippling Wallabies<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Erin<\/p>\n

Erin Clark shoves Junior Paulo in the face after bashing over to score.\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

In the 33rd minute, the Kiwis were down 12-0. It was Erin Clark’s barnstorming try through three defenders in the 56th minute that stole the lead from Samoa.<\/p>\n

Samoan winger Brian To’o scored the first try, set up by his former Penrith teammate Jarome Luai, the crowd erupting as he crossed over the line.<\/p>\n

Blaize Talagi was able to convert to put the team up 6-0.<\/p>\n

Murray Taulagi was ruled out of the game early, needing scans on a knee injury after his right knee bent into an awkward position as James Fisher-Harris tackled him.<\/p>\n

Simi Sasagi intercepted the ball from the New Zealand side and ran nearly 80 metres for a solo try to put Samoa up 12-0.<\/p>\n

Tensions boiled over during the game frequently, with Moses Leota taking exception to Junior Paulo, who gave him a shove as he tried to play it 16 minutes into the contest.<\/p>\n

“There’s feeling in this one!” Gould said.<\/p>\n

New Zealand’s first try of the afternoon came from Naufahu Whyte in the first half, before Samoa took a 14-6 lead into the break.<\/p>\n

Samoa opened the second half with another spectacular try attempt but the Bunker ruled no try because of a knock-on by Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.<\/p>\n

But Isaiah Papali’i and Clark’s thunderous carry followed.<\/p>\n

\"Erin<\/p>\n

Erin Clark celebrates during the Men’s Pacific Championships Final match between New Zealand Kiwis and Toa Samoa.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

He bashed through Paulo, Chanel Harris-Tavita and Josh Papalii to will himself over the line.<\/p>\n

“He just muscles his way to the in-goal [and says], ‘Get out of my way’,” Gould said.<\/p>\n

From there, Samoa could not stop the Kiwis’ forward momentum, with Casey McLean crossing for a try, Papali’i grabbing a double and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad dotting down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New Zealand Kiwis have won the Pacific Championships final after a dominant second-half surge saw them beat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-273608","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\/273608","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=273608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}