Casey McLean of the Kiwis scores his second try during New Zealand Kiwis v Toa Samoa, round 1 of the Pacific Championships at Go Media Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand on Sunday 19 October 2025. Photo: Fiona Goodall / Photosport Photo: www.photosport.nz
Toa Samoa will review, recover and move on to face Tonga in the second round of the Pacific Championships, following their 18-12 loss to New Zealand in Auckland on Sunday.
Co-captains Jarome Luai and Junior Paulo said the side learned tough lessons from the defeat and will work on those over the next few days before their crucial Brisbane match-up against their Polynesian brothers.
Disappointed with the results, the duo said they must learn to make use of their opportunities, which they create, something they could not quite accomplish in front of 21,251 fans - mostly Samoans - at Go Media Stadium.
"It was a game of 80 minutes and you have to be able to hang on right to the end there," Paulo told the media post-match, referring to their second half performance.
"And that's test match footie. We trained for it and although we came up short, I thought we really stuck in the game and created opportunities.
"But with those opportunities you gotta be able to seize those moments and we were unfortunate towards the back end there.
"It's not being content about almost winning, its about what is our next role from here and what we get better.
"It's about how we create those opportunities and seize those moments."
Luai said they felt the energy of the crowd but they as players need to deliver.
"It's powerful," he said. "We definitely felt the energy of the crowd but that's something we spoke about that the crowd can't play the game for us.
"We gotta be the ones to go out there and get the job done, so obviously we feeling a bit disappointed but we will try and make amends for those again next week."
Toa Samoa supporters during the Pacific Championships rugby league test between New Zealand Kiwis v Toa Samoa at Go Media Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand. Photo: Brett Phibbs
Winning Kiwi coach Stacey Jones said the win was a great start for them.
"Bit of relief for us," he said. "The boys just turned up for each other, we had each others back. Really happy the way they defended their line."
Casey McLean scored twice early to set the Kiwis on sail leading 12-0 early in the first quarter but the Samoans hit back with Deine Mariner and Simi Sasagi replying.
Levelled on the scores the Kiwis responded again with Matthew Timoko scored right before halftime to lead 16-12.
Winning captain James Fisher-Harris said the game was very physical and both sets of players were bruised after the 80 minutes.
"Thought it was a great game and it was anyone's game," he said.
"The physical battle in the middle was very good. There is not easy game in this competition."
The second half was tit-for tat affair as both sides tried to get the upper hand.
Samoa had two near tries in the corner after Murray Taulagi dived over the sideline in the 50th minute, before he also stepped on the line eight minutes later.
But in the 69th minute Taulagi levelled terms again with a super try after Samoa won a turnover ball at halfway.
However, it was Dylan Brown wo had the final say when he collected the ball from a bomb sent up high into the air by Kieran Foran.
Kickers Jamayne Isaako for the Kiwis and Blaize Talagi of Toa Samoa traded conversions during the game, adding the extra points to the scoreboard.
Key stats
On match statistics, the Kiwis had 51 percent of possession, enjoyed 31.11 minutes of the game with possession and recorded a 79 percent completion rate for sets played.
Toa Samoa completed 31 out of 40 sets they had in the game, had 30.23 minutes of possession and recorded 215 runs with the ball in hand, covering a total of 1632 metres.
The Kiwis were more creative with their plays, recording four dummy passes on attack while the Samoans did not make use of that individual skill, although they managed to get 11 offloads, which was eight less than what the winners recorded in the game.
Both sides kicked the ball 25 times in general play, with the Kiwis using the high bombs more often, with six against Samoa's three.
Using grubber kicks as well was also part of the Kiwis' game plan, with five grubber kicks made against two by Samoa.
The second round of matches will be held in Brisbane on Sunday with Toa Samoa taking on Tonga.
New Zealand will be on a bye, and host Tonga on 2 November in Auckland.
