{"id":621280,"date":"2026-10-05T13:08:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T13:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/621280\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T13:08:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T13:08:13","slug":"fiji-confirms-rugby-league-world-cup-squad-with-big-exclusions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/621280\/","title":{"rendered":"Fiji confirms Rugby League World Cup squad with big exclusions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fiji<\/a> has confirmed its 23-man squad for the Rugby League<\/a> World Cup with a number of high profile exclusions.<\/p>\n

Injuries have robbed the Bati of arguably their two best players in Canterbury Bulldogs<\/a> second-rower Viliame Kikau<\/a> and Wests Tigers<\/a> fullback Jahream Bula<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Tigers Fainu brothers – Sione, Samuela and Latu – were all ruled ineligible.<\/p>\n

The Bati have been able to name the likes of Waqa Blake<\/a>, Kurt Donoghoe<\/a>, Kitione Kautoga<\/a>, Josese Lanyon<\/a>, Taane Milne<\/a>, Jacob Saifiti<\/a>, Solomone Saukuru<\/a>, Sunia Turuva<\/a>, Semi Valemei<\/a> and Brandon Wakeham<\/a> with NRL<\/a> experience in a squad that will be captained by star dummy half Apisai Koroisau<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Blake, Milne and Valemei all spent 2026 in the English Super League<\/a> after leaving the NRL<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Fijians have a number of exciting young prospects in their squad, with a forward pack who will aim to take it up to big name opposition.<\/p>\n

Fiji<\/a> opens its tournament on October 18 in Newcastle against the Cook Islands<\/a>, before clashing with New Zealand<\/a> and Australia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The top two teams in Group A will proceed to the semi-finals, meaning Fiji<\/a> will need to both beat the Cook Islands<\/a> and find an upset somewhere else to advance.<\/p>\n

Fiji’s squad for 2026 Rugby League World Cup<\/p>\n

Bayleigh Bentley-Hape<\/a> (South Sydney Rabbitohs<\/a>)
Waqa Blake<\/a> (Bradford Bulls<\/a>)
Kurt Donoghoe<\/a> (The Dolphins<\/a>)
Apenisa Driti (Northern Pride)
Kitione Kautoga<\/a> (Parramatta Eels<\/a>)
Elijah Keung<\/a> (South Sydney Rabbitohs<\/a>)
Apisai Koroisau<\/a> (Wests Tigers<\/a>)
Josese Lanyon<\/a> (Wests Tigers<\/a>)
Jordan Leiu<\/a> (Norths Devils)
Joseph Litidamu<\/a> (Melbourne Storm<\/a>)
Kylan Mafoa<\/a> (Manly Sea Eagles<\/a>)
Taane Milne<\/a> (Huddersfield Giants<\/a>)
Caleb Navale<\/a> (Manly Sea Eagles<\/a>)
Jimmy Ngutlik<\/a> (Mackay Cutters)
Ronaldo Philitoga (North Queensland Cowboys<\/a>)
Mitchell Prest (Mackay Cutters)
Emosi Ravosai (New Zealand Warriors<\/a>)
Jacob Saifiti<\/a> (Newcastle Knights<\/a>)
Solomone Saukuru<\/a> (Wests Tigers<\/a>)
Sunia Turuva<\/a> (Wests Tigers<\/a>)
Semi Valemei<\/a> (Castleford Tigers<\/a>)
Brandon Wakeham<\/a> (Manly Sea Eagles<\/a>)
Jordan Miller<\/a> (Parramatta Eels<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fiji has confirmed its 23-man squad for the Rugby League World Cup with a number of high profile…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-621280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}