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\n Tonga and Samoa might fill Suncorp Stadium for their Pacific Cup match. (David Rowland\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n
Tonga are set to play Samoa in a Pacific Cup blockbuster at Suncorp Stadium, in what could be the most attended rugby league Test in Australia in more than a decade.<\/p>\n
The NRL are expected to soon confirm the schedule for this year’s Pacific Championships, with the tournament to coincide with Australia’s Ashes tour of England.<\/p>\n
AAP understands New Zealand will host both of their matches, including the series opener against Samoa in mid October.<\/p>\n
Tonga and Samoa will then be given the best possible chance of drawing a crowd, with the game slated for October 28 at the 52,500-seat Suncorp Stadium.<\/p>\n
The final is then expected be played in Sydney on November 9.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Parramatta’s CommBank Stadium is considered the most likely venue, after also hosting the decider last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
All games are at this stage set to be played at 4pm on Sundays.<\/p>\n
\n Tonga and Samoa might fill Suncorp Stadium for their Pacific Cup match. (David Rowland\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n
Brisbane’s Samoa-Tonga match could be one of the most hotly anticipated games of the season.<\/p>\n
These sides haven’t met in Australia since 2018, and Samoa has joined Tonga as a genuine international powerhouse since then.<\/p>\n
The biggest crowd at a Test in Australia in the past decade was the 40,033 who attended the 2017 World Cup final.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This year’s Suncorp Stadium clash would be every chance of bettering that figure, with Brisbane considered the fastest growing Pasifika city in the world.<\/p>\n
Proven rugby league powerhouse Tonga and 2022 World Cup finalists Samoa have put the international game on the map with their drawing power and performances.<\/p>\n
Both will be red-hot contenders to win the 2026 World Cup, to be hosted in Australia and Papua New Guinea.<\/p>\n
Samoa could yet be boosted by the inclusion of Dolphins fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Brisbane prop Payne Haas and Gold Coast captain Tino Fa’asuamaleaui.<\/p>\n
They already have players including Penrith winger Brian To’o, Bulldogs centre and captain Stephen Crichton and Wests Tigers playmaker Jarome Luai.<\/p>\n
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\n Samoa’s Stephen Crichton was a key man in the side’s 2022 World Cup campaign. (David Davies\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n
Tonga, coached by Dolphins mentor Kristian Woolf, reached the final of the Pacific Cup against Australia last year.<\/p>\n
Their side boasted Dolphins star half Isaiya Katoa, North Queensland wrecking-ball Jason Taumalolo, and a suite of other NRL stars including Daniel Tupou, Eli Katoa and Felise Kaufusi.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Tongans will be without Manly second-rower Haumole Olaukau’atu, but have rising Warriors such as 19-year-old forward Leka Halasima to call upon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Halasima played for Tonga A last year and is regarded as one of the brightest second-row prospects in the NRL.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Samoa coach Ben Gardiner had supported the prospect of trying to pack a major arena last year, when asked whether Accor Stadium should be an option.<\/p>\n
“We would like to play it in Samoa and take a game back to the people there,” Samoa coach Ben Gardiner told AAP last November.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“But if it wasn’t there I would like to give it the best possible chance to give it the biggest possible crowd.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“In a perfect world, 50,000 would definitely be do-able I think.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It’s something that would stick in people’s memories, with the kind of crowd that would turn out and the noise and atmosphere it would create.”<\/p>\n