Samoa's league coach Matt Parish says if his team is provided with more fixtures over the next few years, they will improve even more.
Over the weekend Toa Samoa concluded their Four Nations campaign with a 44-18 loss to Australia.
Parish has summed up Samoa's campaign as a success even though they lost all three games.
"No one expected us to match the big three and I think that we more than did it. The first two games could of gone either way. I thought we were very unlucky, particularly in the Kiwi game, to get beaten with the number of refereeing decisions that were dubious to say the least. In the English game we were very competitive. We were down twice and got back in the lead twice, possibly could have won that game. In the Australian game, they played very well. They are the world champions and they certainly hit form very well."
No other fourth participant has held the "big three" to less than 22 points. Samoa lost to England by six and New Zealand by two.
Parish says more games are needed.
"Look. If they want the lesser, the second-tier nations to compete against the "big three", we need regular international competition. Okay, not once every two years, every three years, leading up to a world cup. One of the reasons we played well in this Four Nations is because we built on the success and built on the teamwork that we created in the world cup in October and November of 2013 and we came together in this Four Nations."
Toa Samoa rugby league coach Matt Parish Photo: PHOTOSPORT
