Samoa to host first official home rugby league Test Match

Samoa will host their first official rugby league Test Match against Fiji in Apia on 8th October.

The NRL will provide financial support for the fixture, as well as appointing NRL referees for the match and senior staff and management to assist with the event.

The announcement was made by Australian Rugby League Commission Chairman and Rugby League International Federation Deputy Chairman John Grant who said the match was a fitting way for Samoa to celebrate 30 years of rugby league in the country.

Grant explained “the Pacific is a region we will continue to support,” Grant said.

“Our League Bilong Laif program in PNG and the Pacific Outreach Program in Samoa, Fiji and Tonga have been enormously successful, and are now delivered by 50 full and part time staff across PNG, Samoa, Fiji and Tonga.”

Rugby League Samoa Chairman, Tagaloa Faafouina Su’a, added “we have come a long way in 30 years.

“I’d like to thank our patron, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi, and his government, for their ongoing support.

“With the Pacific Outreach Program now embedded in our schools, and now a Test match in Samoa to look forward to, the game will continue to grow.”

Last year the Samoa Rugby Union hosted the All Blacks in a Test in Samoa - the event running up a debt of $1.5 million for the SRU.

Image: Samoa’s Frank Pritchard (second from left) with Tonga’s Sika Manu, Fiji’s Jayson Bukuya and PNG’s Israel Eliab prior to the Pacific Test double header at Pirtek Stadium, Parramatta on Friday 6th May. Image courtesy of the NRL. 

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