Read on for all of the team tips for the World Cup semi finals.<\/p>\n
AUSTRALIA<\/p>\n
Australia team against Cook Islands: 1. Reece Walsh 2. Jack Bostock 3. Kotoni Staggs 4. Bradman Best 5. Tom Trbojevic 6. Cameron Munster 7. Tom Dearden 8. Patrick Carrigan 9. Harry Grant 10. Tino Fa\u2019asuamaleaui 11. Jacob Preston 12. Liam Martin 13. Isaah Yeo (c) 14. Ethan Strange 15. Keaon Koloamatangi 22. David Fifita 17. Reuben Cotter 18. Lindsay Smith 19. James Tedesco <\/p>\n
Team Tips: One thing\u2019s for sure. The Kangaroos will play their semi final in Sydney next Sunday, but their opponent is yet to be determined. They\u2019ll take on the loser of tonight\u2019s clash between Samoa and Tonga while New Zealand will play the winner. Walters has several line up decisions to make between now and then, notably who will play halfback and fullback. However, Walters also has a secret weapon who has been waiting in the wings. Latrell Mitchell hasn\u2019t played since the World Cup opener, with Bradman Best lining up at left centre in the wins over Fiji and the Cook Islands. Walters doesn\u2019t know who will start but told the SMH<\/a> that Mitchell will be utilised. \u201cLatrell is a creator. He can do things not many others can on the field,\u201d Walters said. \u201cHe\u2019s hard to handle, he\u2019s highly skilful and he brings a lot of presence as a player. \u201cIt\u2019s tough because you can only put 13 players on the field at any one time. The last couple of weeks, Bradman has been playing good footy. It was going to be a big call either way. The thing with Latrell is we don\u2019t need to rely on him to pull out the big moments. He\u2019s got the big moments in him, but we can ease the pressure on him, let him play his football, and he can bring himself into the game when he sees the right moments.\u201d<\/p>\n NEW ZEALAND<\/p>\n NZ team against Fiji: 1. Keano Kini 2. Jamayne Isaako 3. Dane Gagai 4. Casey McLean 5. Ronaldo Mulitalo 6. Kodi Nikorima 7. Jahrome Hughes 8. James Fisher-Harris (c) 9. Jeremy Marshall-King 10. Moses Leota 11. Isaiah Papali\u2019i 12. Briton Nikora 13. Joseph Tapine 14. Te Maire Martin 15. Naufahu Whyte 16. Erin Clark 17. Xavier Willison 18. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 19. Scott Sorensen<\/p>\n Team Tips: In a stunning revelation, Kalyn Ponga is set to be back on deck for the Kiwis next weekend. Ponga suffered a fractured arm just 17 days ago against Australia and underwent surgery. His tournament appeared to be over but according to The Daily Telegraph\u2019s David Riccio, Ponga is in line to play in Saturday\u2019s semi-final. Barring any hiccups during the week, Ponga will replace Keano Kini at fullback with Kini to revert to the six-man bench. As Riccio noted, Sharks star Blayke Brailey was sidelined for only three weeks after suffering a broken forearm earlier in the NRL season. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of optimism. It has been done before,\u201d Riccio said on Channel 7. England legend James Graham believes the return of Ponga is massive for the Kiwis\u2019 World Cup bid. \u201cKalyn Ponga is arguably the tournament\u2019s best player. We saw that contribution in the opener and it just shows what the jersey means to him,\u201d Graham said. \u201cI think he can take New Zealand the whole way.\u201d Elsewhere, CODE Sports reporter David Riccio reported on Channel 7 that he had confirmation from NZ Rugby League that Ronaldo Mulitalo would be taking the early guilty plea for his high shot from the Kiwis\u2019 win over Fiji. That means he will miss next week\u2019s semi-final, with Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad likely to join the side in his place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kalyn Ponga is set to complete a remarkable recovery from a fractured arm, with the star fullback in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":647774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-647773","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\/647773","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=647773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Expect](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/0c1dbaf90fa27cc27447898f7ed4a834.jpeg\")
Expect to see Latrell Mitchell in some capacity in next Sunday\u2019s semi final.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n