‘They hate us and we hate them’: Samoa star’s plea over Pacific series to rival State of Origin
Roosters enforcer Spencer Leniu wants to see a three-match series between Samoa and Tonga brought in to rival State of Origin, with the powerhouse prop predicting a crowd in excess of 50,000 when the rival nations meet in next year’s Pacific Cup.
More than 28,000 screaming fans rocked up to CommBank Stadium to see Australia beat Tonga 20-14, with most of the crowd wearing red and cheering on the underdogs who stunned New Zealand a week earlier to reach the final.
The support for international rugby league has grown substantially since 2017 when stars Jason Taumalolo and Andrew Fifita decided to represent Tonga at the World Cup, with more and more players now choosing to play for the smaller Pacific nations.
It’s led to thrilling upsets like Samoa reaching the World Cup final two years ago, with both proud nations embarking on tours to the UK since then.
Australia is next in line to travel to England next year, which means Tonga, Samoa and New Zealand will battle it out in what promises to be the most electric instalment of the Pacific Cup.
The question is where those games will be played, with Leniu confident of a monster crowd in Sydney if officials decide to hold the Tonga-Samoa match at Accor Stadium or Allianz Stadium.
“I reckon you could double (what they got on Sunday),” he said.
“It was majority Tongan fans, but we’d have the same number of Samoan fans there, so it’d be blue and red. I think 50,000 would be perfect. They’d turn out anywhere.”
The next step is ensuring that Tonga and Samoa play more regularly, with the rivals last facing off in Sydney back in 2018 when almost 18,000 fans packed out Campbelltown Stadium.
They then had to wait another four years for their next meeting at the World Cup where Samoa snuck past Tonga in the quarter-final before they shocked England the following week to book a date with the Kangaroos.
Leniu played in that final and last year’s Pacific Cup but missed out on this year’s UK tour, with the NSW prop urging officials to bring in an annual three-match series to rival the Origin experience.
Those matches would have to be played at the end of the year to avoid any tough decisions by players who would be eligible for both series, with Leniu expecting the Tests to be on another level.
“Hopefully, they can do an Origin series with us and Tonga,” he said, with a potential shorter NRL season in coming years set to make series like this possible.
“It’s probably the biggest Pacific Island rivalry between us and Tonga.
“When I saw Taumalolo and those guys flip and play for their little nation, that definitely inspired me to want to play for Samoa. That’s my goal in my career so far to let the Samoans around the world that want to play, I want to make sure that they want to play for Samoa.
“When we went to the World Cup final in 2022, that was one of the proudest moments of my career so far.
“I reckon Tonga and Samoa has to be like an Origin series. It would be unbelievable. Probably (play) one in New Zealand and then one or two in Sydney or Brisbane.
“I don’t care when, I just want it to happen. There is no bigger rivalry than us and Tonga in the Pacific.
“They hate us and we hate them, so it’ll be a good game.
“There’s so much respect for them and what they’ve able to achieve for their small nation. Us two countries going about it on the biggest stage would be good for both nations.”
