By Brian Lowe, Date: 7/11/17 (Photo Credit NRLPhotos)
Venue: Barlow Park, Cairns, QLD, Australia
TV Kick-off time: Saturday 11th November 2017, 5pm AEST
Samoa will start as heavy favorites to beat a depleted Scotland in their final Pool B matchup at the Rugby League World Cup.
The two are set to square off in Cairns Saturday with the winner securing a place in the quarterfinals.
The Scots will field an understrength side following three of their players being sent home from #RLWC2017 this week for misconduct.
Captain Danny Brough, Sam Brooks and Johnny Walker were all deemed to be too drunk to board their plane in Christchurch, New Zealand.
The Scotland Rugby League said it expects everyone involved in Scottish Rugby League to adhere to the highest standards of behavior and these guys didn’t.
Both teams are 0-2 going into the contest. In the so-called Pool of Death, Samoa has lost to New Zealand and Pacific archrivals Tonga, while Scotland was totally dominated by the Kiwis and Mate Ma’a.
Not that it will really matter in determining who advances to the playoff rounds, but Samoa’s points differential is -44 compared with Scotland’s differential of -114.
Despite their losses, Toa Samoa has played some enterprising football at times while remaining competitive and haven’t been blown away.
Sadly, the same can’t be said for the Scots who have been completely outplayed in their two matches to date.
Expect the likes of Frank Winterstein, Joseph Leilua, Herman Ese’Ese, Josh Papalii and Junior Paulo to lead the charge for the Samoans as they set their sights on qualifying for the knock-out rounds.
Samoa v Scotland Teams
SAMOA
1 Young TONUMAIPEA
2 Ricky LEUTELE
3 Timoteo LAFAI
4 Joseph LEILUA
5 Matthew WRIGHT
6 Jarome LUAI
7 Fa’amanu BROWN
8 Junior PAULO
9 Jazz TEVAGA
10 Herman ESE’ESE
11 Joshua PAPALII
12 Frank WINTERSTEIN
13 Bunty AFOA
14 Pita GODINET
15 Joseph PAULO
16 Leeson AH MAU
17 Sam TAGATAESE ©
18 Frank PRITCHARD (c)
19 Suaia MATAGI
20 Ben ROBERTS
21 Ken MAUMALO
SCOTLAND
1 Lewis TIERNEY
2 Shane TOAL
3 Ben HELLEWELL
4 Lachlan STEIN
5 Matthew RUSSELL
6 Danny ADDY
7 Oscar THOMAS
8 Luke DOUGLAS (c)
9 Callum PHILLIPS
10 Ben KAVANAGH
11 Frankie MARIANO
12 Dale FERGUSON
13 James BELL
14 Kane BENTLEY
15 Brandan WILKINSON
16 Andrew BENTLEY
17 Jarred ANDERSON
18 Alex WALKER
19 Will OAKS
20 David SCOTT
21 Keiran MORAN
