23 Oct 2014

Sport: Samoa league coach expects brutal encounter

11:37 am on 23 October 2014

The Samoa rugby league coach is expecting a confrontational beginning to the Four Nations tournament on Saturday.

Matt Parish's Toa Samoa will play England in their opener.

Parish says both teams have big packs so he is expecting a brutal match.

"We've got a very big team but again so have they. The Burgess boys have been terrific, James Graham's a great player and obviously the English players are really good. They've got two really smart hookers. It's gonna be a really torrid game in the middle. We're under no illusion how tough it's gonna be and how tough this tournament is but again Samoa has done very well over the past year to get where we are, we're very proud of our effort. Hopefully we can convert what we've done on the training park into a good way we can play on Saturday night."

Toa Samoa Rugby League Team

Toa Samoa Rugby League Team Photo: Toa Samoa / Facebook