14 Oct 2010

Shaun Kenny-Dowall and Jeremy Smith return to Kiwis

7:44 am on 14 October 2010

Shaun Kenny-Dowall and Jeremy Smith return to Test football after long absences when the Kiwis face Samoa in the first rugby league international between the two sides in Auckland on Saturday night.

Kenny-Dowall will start in the centres at Mt Smart Stadium after playing his only Test against France in Paris in 2007 while Smith is in the Kiwis line-up for the first time since New Zealand's Rugby League World Cup triumph against the Kangaroos in November 2008.

Also set to return after last playing in the 2009 Anzac Test in Brisbane are Warriors team-mates Simon Mannering and Manu Vatuvei.

Mannering's the bench after being ill for two days while Vatuvei is back on the left wing with Jason Nightingale on the right.

Coach Stephen Kearney has left out wingers Sam Perrett and Antonio Winterstein and confirmed that Lewis Brown and Sam McKendry will play for New Zealand Maori in Saturday night's curtain-raiser against England.