Samoa captain

Pritchard yearns for Origin-like treatment for Pacific tests

This Saturday's clash between Samoa and Tonga is arguably the most anticipated clash of the World Cup pool stages with Tonga's strengthened line-up seeking to supplant Samoa as the leading challenger to the dominance of rugby league's Tier 1 nations.

While a Tonga team inspired by Jason Taumalolo and Michael Jennings brushed past Scotland 50-4 in their opening pool game Samoa wilted in the latter stages against New Zealand to go down 38-8 in Auckland, making their task to avoid a likely quarter-final showdown with the Kangaroos that much more difficult.