England to face Samoa in Autumn Test

[josie andrews]

ENGLAND WILL FACE SAMOA THIS AUTUMN IN A TWO-MATCH TEST SERIES SPONSORED BY ABK BEER – AT THE BRICK COMMUNITY STADIUM, WIGAN, ON SUNDAY 27 OCTOBER AND AT AMT HEADINGLEY RUGBY STADIUM, LEEDS, ON SATURDAY 2 NOVEMBER.

Tickets are on sale now for the two matches, which will also be televised by BBC Sport domestically and on SuperLeague+ overseas.

The two-match Test series, Samoa’s first in England, offers Head Coach Shaun Wane and his team an opportunity to avenge the bitter disappointment of their World Cup Semi Final defeat in November 2022.

England Head Coach Shaun Wane said: “This is the positive news we’ve been waiting for. We face a tough challenge in France this month and we’ll prepare for that in the knowledge that we’ll have another crack at Samoa at the end of the season. That’s three big games to give us a focus for the rest of the year.

“Everyone knows how devastated we were to lose that World Cup Semi Final. I know all the players will be as keen as me to take on Samoa again and I think it will be the same with our supporters. They know Samoa will be a top team, with some of the best players in the NRL. But they also know we have an England team worthy of their support.

“Beating Tonga 3-0 last year was fantastic and it’s great that we’re going back to Headingley where we completed that series. And personally, I’m very pleased that we’re playing the first game at Wigan. We’ve got great memories of our World Cup Quarter Final against Papua New Guinea, so let’s hope we can fill the ground again.”

England have played three previous fixtures against Samoa, beating them 32-26 in Brisbane in 2014 and then demolishing them 60-6 at St James’ Park in Newcastle in the first game of the World Cup in 2022, before Stephen Crichton’s drop goal in Golden Point extra time inflicted a 27-26 defeat four weeks later.

ABK Test Series: England v Samoa

Game 1: Sunday 27 October, The Brick Community Stadium, Wigan, K.O. 2:30pm
Game 2: Saturday 2 November, AMT Headingley Rugby Stadium, Leeds, K.O. 2:30pm
Tickets are available to buy now at rugby-league.com/tickets with prices starting per test match from £25 Adults and £12.50 Under 16s. If booking 10 tickets or more, save 20% with prices instead from £20 Adults and £10 Under 16s – available now via the Groups Sales team at groups@rlcommercial.co.uk or on 0844 856 1115.

https://wiganwarriors.com/blog/2024/06/ ... tumn-test/

[Wigan_forever1985]

Personally would scrap the international game altogether in favour of a larger SL vs NRL tournament

Theres hardly any interest or importance on the international games its largely Austrailia/NZ and then anyone who cant get in those teams goes to Fiji/Samoa/Tonga

England and whoever cant get in there goes to Ireland/Scotland/Wales

People change country like its a club and no one really cares who wins it.

The other option is bring back Lancashire/Yorkshire and compete against NSW and QLD

[Mike]

The Aussies still running scared I see. Won't leave home.

[WarriorWinger]

The only problem with scrapping internationals is that you loose the 'national' aspect to the sport and it then just becomes even more regional, we need national and international exposure, if England went on to win a World Cup who know where, given the right exposure, where it could take the sport.

[Wigan_forever1985]

I’m not sure you do - look at the champions league people will support the “English teams” and you’re seen as representing the competition

I doubt anyone would care if England won rugby league to be honest - but I appreciate I’m probably in the minority on this view

Just feels like flogging a dead horse

[Mike]

The alternative route is to make the club competitions the highest profile you can. That means playing matches between the top competitions regulalry, and that get a *lot* of push back from fans due to expense etc. The potential of taking a single match to the US has certainly got people's backs up, and from an expense perspective its well justified. Imagine if we played two or three matches out of Europe in a typical year.

Anyway, its not GB that's disrespecting the international game, its the Aussies. Their supposedly better comp can't seem to beat our inferioir teams. They "weren't trying" I suppose... Cry babies.

[WarriorWinger]

I’m not sure you do - look at the champions league people will support the “English teams” and you’re seen as representing the competition

I doubt anyone would care if England won rugby league to be honest - but I appreciate I’m probably in the minority on this view

Just feels like flogging a dead horse

But the Champions League is an 'international' competition, if we scrap any kind of internationals then RL is purely domestic, unless you try and introduce some kind of Champions League type system for RL, but we know the Aussies would never go for that so we will have to hang our hat on Country teams, especially now that the nations like Tonga, Samoa etc. are getting stronger, those in the NRL want to play for their country of origin, I think it is the rules around Origin that prevents some from committing to their preferred national team

[southportcdm]

I see that you can't get tickets for the West stand on the RFL site. Is this the RFL up to their old tricks of keeping the best tickets for their lackeys or do you think they may become available later when the RFL realise that there will be some empty seats?