Samoa skipper Junior Paulo has been suspended for a crunch semi-final clash against England, but teammate Joseph Suaalii will play after escaping with a sanction.
Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga has hinted at some changes to the Australian bench for their semi-final showdown with New Zealand.
Read on for all of the World Cup early mail.
Tonga v Samoa: Match highlights | 02:59
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Australia vs New Zealand 6.45am AEDT, Saturday 12 November
Australia team: TBC
Early mail: Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga told Fox League ahead of Australia’s quarter-final that the team was basically settled. That means we can expect Nathan Cleary and Cameron Munster to partner up in the halves again this week, Valentine Holmes and Josh Addo-Carr on the wings and Jack Wighton and Latrell Mitchell in the centres. Isaah Yeo beat Cameron Murray to the lock role but the latter will be on the bench, while Liam Martin’s Penrith combination earned him a spot in the starting second row with Angus Crichton on the other side. Skipper James Tedesco suffered a cork against Lebanon and failed to finish the game, but is expected to be cleared to face New Zealand. Reagan Campbell-Gillard could come into contention for the forward pack after missing the quarter-final due to a cork. The big selection call Meninga will have to make is who will fill the bench utility role. Ben Hunt was rested during the quarter-final, opening the door for Daly Cherry-Evans to put his hand up. The veteran played 40 minutes off the bench and while he didn’t set the world on fire, he was solid, running for 42 metres, getting four tackle busts and making 13 tackles with zero misses.
Menina said the quality of the Kiwi forwards could force his hand when it comes to the Kangaroos bench.
“We’re obviously going to be tested defensively this week coming up… we lacked a bit of composure (against Lebanon), if we want to win the World Cup we’ve got to grind and get a good victory out,” Meninga said on SENQ Mornings.
“We’ll pick and stick, we’ve got a couple of things we want to look at from our bench point of view, I’m pretty comfortable with our starting 13 I think that works really well.
“We’ve got Reagan Campbell-Gillard perhaps to come back into the 13 and Benny Hunt’s back this week because we rested him.
“Probably a couple of players might miss out this week because I’m pretty keen on getting those two involved (Hunt and Campbell-Gillard).
“Maybe we go for an all-forwards bench this week to obviously counteract the big forwards and quality of the New Zealand pack.”
The comments could mean Cherry-Evans loses his spot and may have played his final game of the tournament.
“It’s no secret that they work very well together Ben and Harry (Grant) they did really well at Origin level, and they’ve done really in the first couple of games together, they’re fit and raring to go, at this stage I would think both are going to play,” Meninga said.
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Yeo says Kangaroos primed for Kiwis | 01:34
New Zealand team: TBC
Early mail: Maguire confirmed after New Zealand’s win over Fiji that Moses Leota (hamstring) and Marata Niukore (pectoral) will return for the must-win clash. Star enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves is due back from a one-game suspension but has also been nursing a hamstring injury. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, who was included in the reserves last week but then ruled out due to a calf injury, is also expected to be available. “We’ve pretty much got a full complement coming back, I’ve just got to check on Jared… We’ll see how he’s travelling throughout the week,” Maguire said.
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Tonga and Samoa get spines tingling! | 02:48
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England vs Samoa 1.30am AEDT, Sunday 13 November
England team: TBC
Early mail: To come.
Samoa team: TBC
Early mail: Samoa have the chance to right their wrongs after England demolished them in their opening clash of the World Cup. But they’ll have to do it without captain Junior Paulo unless he can overturn the one-game ban he has received from the World Cup match review committee. Paulo was put on report and then suspended for striking Tongan star David Fifita with a forearm to the throat. Paulo was asked after the game by foxsports.com.au if he was worried about the incident, to which he said: “Not really, I was quite surprised with it and the penalty in general.” Paulo is expected to fight the ban and his case will be heard on Wednesday morning AEDT.
Meanwhile, Joseph Suaalii — who was a standout in Samoa’s two-point win — was put on report for lifting his knees when being tackled by Felise Kaufusi, but the teenager has escaped with a caution.
The offence is something the 19-year-old has form in given he was given a concerning act notice by the NRL’s match review committee for doing the same thing earlier this year.
“I would be surprised if anything came of that,” Samoa coach Matt Parish said of the incident.
