{"id":949241,"date":"2026-11-01T23:18:14","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T23:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/949241\/"},"modified":"2026-11-01T23:18:14","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T23:18:14","slug":"ronald-volkman-emerges-as-unlikely-winner-from-chanel-harris-tavitas-luckless-rugby-league-world-cup-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/949241\/","title":{"rendered":"Ronald Volkman emerges as unlikely winner from Chanel Harris-Tavita\u2019s luckless Rugby League World Cup run"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chanel Harris-Tavita\u2019s luckless World Cup<\/a> run looks set to play into the hands of Ronald Volkman, who looms as the obvious candidate to fill Samoa\u2019s playmaking void for their semi-final meeting with Australia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Harris-Tavita was knocked out cold in the last World Cup final four years ago and is now long-odds to play again for Samoa this campaign.<\/p>\n

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Tonga defeat Samoa in World Cup thriller<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n

The Warriors\u2019 No.6 strained his hamstring while taking a shot at goal in Sunday\u2019s 20-18 group stage loss to Tong<\/a>a.<\/p>\n

Parramatta half Volkman made an instant impact, scoring a try after replacing Harris-Tavita from the bench, and he will step in against the Kangaroos.<\/p>\n

Volkman\u2019s rise to a likely Samoan starting jersey caps a terrific season for the 24-year-old after he was dumped by St George Illawarra in 2024 with concerns over a long-term shoulder issue.<\/p>\n

Samoa face Australia on Sunday at Sydney\u2019s Allianz Stadium after their narrow loss to the Tongans dumped England out of the tournament on points differential.<\/p>\n

\"RonaldRonald Volkman looks to the heavens after scoring for Samoa in the defeat by Tonga. Credit: AAP<\/p>\n

\u201cRonald\u2019s done a great job, he did a fantastic job last week for us in the win over Papua New Guinea,\u201d Samoa coach Ben Gardiner said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe came on at the back end of the game, in a slightly different role for a different reason and he did a really good job when he came on.<\/p>\n

Be the first to know: Add 7NEWS as your preferred news source on Google\"Google<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought he brought great energy, I thought his speed in the line really put pressure on the Tongan team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got trust in every player in our team, so it doesn\u2019t matter who goes on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guys that are in our squad, we\u2019ve got complete trust in them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old Volkman is likely to be the target of heavy traffic from the Kangaroos\u2019 edge forwards as the two sides renew a rivalry that has simmered since the World Cup final four years ago.<\/p>\n

Samoa have yet to beat Australia in a Test across fives meetings and lost 38-12 in their last international three years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir form\u2019s been very strong, very strong and they\u2019ve got fantastic players,\u201d Gardiner said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve got players that have played a lot of games for the Kangaroos and are in a really good position at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve won three footy matches on the trot, and they\u2019re going to be a really hard side to beat next week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we hold on to the ball and we complete better than 66 per cent that\u2019ll give us a good opportunity to pick up on some of those things we need to work on.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Late heartbreak as big toe decides Samoa-Tonga blockbuster<\/p>\n

4 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Samoa captain \u2018in trouble\u2019 after ironing out rival with \u2018outlawed\u2019 hit<\/p>\n

2 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chanel Harris-Tavita\u2019s luckless World Cup run looks set to play into the hands of Ronald Volkman, who looms…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":949242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,1625,158,760,139707,588,85,438546],"class_list":["post-949241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-lifestyle","tag-nrl","tag-rugby","tag-rugby-league-world-cup","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-your-feed"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949241","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=949241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/949242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=949241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=949241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=949241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}