Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Heartland XV to play at Eden Park as World Cup warm up

Manu Samoa will play a New Zealand Heartland XV team at Eden Park on August 31, while Fiji will play Tonga in a double header billed as the Pasifika Challenge II The Road to Japan.

An announcement was made at the venue of the games on Wednesday morning, which will be warm up fixtures for the Rugby World Cup in Japan.

Auckland Tourism Events and Economic Development (Ateed), which is an arm of Auckland Council, is involved with putting on the games and there is hope that fans will come out in a similar way to how they've done for the Tongan rugby league team in recent years.

One issue though is that the games are on the same day as the second round of the Heartland Championship, so it's likely these provinces will be without their best players for that day.

It will also clash with a round of the Mitre 10 Cup and although none of the teams in the Auckland region are playing at home that day, Waikato host Auckland at 7.35pm. Manu Samoa will play a New Zealand Heartland XV team at Eden Park on August 31, while Fiji will play Tonga in a double header billed as the Pasifika Challenge II The Road to Japan.

An announcement was made at the venue of the games on Wednesday morning, which will be warm up fixtures for the Rugby World Cup in Japan.

Auckland Tourism Events and Economic Development (Ateed), which is an arm of Auckland Council, is involved with putting on the games and there is hope that fans will come out in a similar way to how they've done for the Tongan rugby league team in recent years.

One issue though is that the games are on the same day as the second round of the Heartland Championship, so it's likely these provinces will be without their bIt will also clash with a round of the Mitre 10 Cup and although none of the teams in the Auckland region are playing at home that day, Waikato host Auckland at 7.35pm.est players for that day.