Samoa out to make new history in return to England for Test series

It is being promoted in England as "time for revenge”, but Toa Samoa coach Ben Gardiner and his players aren't looking back and view the historic Test series as a steppingstone for the 2026 World Cup.

After months of negotiations, Samoa will return to the scene of their greatest triumph to take on an England team they dumped from a home World Cup in 2022.

In doing so, Samoa became the first Pacific nation to qualify for a World Cup final, and they will now meet England in a two Test series at Wigan on October 27 and Leeds on November 2.

However, while England coach Shaun Wane and his players may view the series as an opportunity to avenge their 27-26 extra-time World Cup semi-final loss in London, Gardiner is looking only to the future.

“We are not going over there for revenge,” said Gardiner, who took over as Samoa coach last year.

“It’s a new group with new people and we are going over there to put our best foot forward leading into the World Cup.

“Everything we are going to do for the next few years is to build into the World Cup, so it is good to be able to travel together, build the connection between the group and our families, and be able to build combinations on the field.”

Samoa have a large pool of talent to draw on in both the NRL and Super League, with Gardiner estimating that about 20 eligible players were based in England, including Tyrone May, Tim Lafai and David Nofoaluma.

The form of the Super League players is being monitored for the player of the week and team of the month awards announced on the Toa Samoa social media accounts, which highlight the players of Samoan heritage in the game.

Player of the week winners this season include Jeremiah Nanai, Brian To’o (three times), Jarome Luai, Stephen Crichton, Payne Haas, Junior Paulo, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Jamayne Isaako and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow.

“That is not only for the players and the community to see who is going well from a heritage perspective, it is also for us as a coaching staff,” Gardiner said.

“We have got a wider group selecting that each week, so it is allowing us to keep an eye on who is in form and who is playing well on a week-to-week basis in the NRL and also in those conversations we are talking about who is going well in the Super League.

“We have got a lot of guys in really good form across the league, so it is pretty good for the Samoan jersey.

“You look at guys like Ray Faitala-Mariner and Jayden Su’A at the Dragons, they have played their way into contention because they are in form.

“Royce Hunt is another who has been playing well, he really showed up last weekend in a game that was a big game [for the Sharks] and that is the type of player we want to bring into our squad.

“We want guys who want to play in big games, and he is one of a number of players who have been doing that.”

An undermanned Samoa side were soundly beaten by Australia and New Zealand in last year’s Pacific Championships, but Gardiner noted that a number of players they gave opportunities were also performing well in the NRL this season.

“Sua Fa'alogo has been playing first grade at the Storm and Gordon Chan Kum Tong at Manly is playing every week, so they are now building experience,” he said.

“The other one we bought in late last year to play in the second Test was Tommy Talau and Tommy is absolutely killing it for Manly.

"The great thing for me is that there is so much competitiveness out there with the positions that we get to pick a strong in-form team.”