Samoa-Tonga clash to be annual affair
November 01, 2008

RUGBY league officials will make Samoa-Tonga an annual event after their World Cup epic at CUA Stadium was compared to the birth of State of Origin.

In their first game together, the Nigel Vagana-inspired Samoans eliminated Tonga from pool three and set up a possible semi-final clash with Australia when tries either side of half-time gave them a bruising, thrill-a-minute 20-12 victory.

But the enduring image from the night was the large chunk of a vocal 11,787 crowd invading the field at fullt-ime, with Fox Sports sideline eye Scott Sattler bowled over live on air and Samoa's local hero Tony Puletua chaired from the field in his final game at Penrith. And despite the fear of violence, there was no evidence of any crowd trouble.

"We're going to make it an annual fixture," Rugby League International Federation development officer Tas Baitieri said.

"The idea is that next year Samoa and Tonga play off with the winner added to the following season's Tri-Nations, making it a Quad-Nations."

There is also push for the annual tournament to become a Six Nations from 2010, with France and a Pacific qualifier to take part every year.

Vagana, the Samoa captain, said both countries were ready to play at the top level "for the next 100 years" while second-rower David Solomona reckoned comparisons with the first Origin match in 1980 at Lang Park were not over the top.

"Hopefully it can be like that," he said. "Sixty per cent of the Toyota Cup is Polynesian. If we can get these as annual events, it's only going to make international rugby league better.

"Whoever's in charge of international league, if they came to the game today and you went to Australia-New Zealand, you tell me who's more passionate?

"I've been to Test matches, I've played in big derbys in England and it was crazy out there. It was probably the best support ever."

Samoa looked to have broken their bitter rivals' backs when George Carmont's try made it 20-12 in the 54th minute but the Tongan defence was nothing short of heroic as they repelled attack after attack for the rest of the game.