Winning Starts Monday: Kata and Lolohea choose Tonga over Kiwis

Brad Walter's weekly column on the World Cup wash up from the weekend of rugby league action around the globe.

WSM

Kata and Lolohea choose Tonga over Kiwis
Injury blows for Samoa, Wales, NZ
Marum focuses on Hunters
No room for Widdop, says JJB
USA warm-up with win over Canada

Solomone Kata and Tuimoala Lolohea have chosen to play for Tonga ahead of New Zealand in the Rugby League World Cup – and Michael Jennings is also set to pledge his allegiances to the Mate Ma’a.

Lolohea and Kata, who have both previously played for the Kiwis, announced they had opted to play for Tonga at the World Cup, while Jennings – a member of Australia’s 2013 World Cup winning squad – will choose the Mate Ma’a over Fiji.

“I’m just passionate about my little country and there are not many chances to play for Tonga so I have had the World Cup in the back of my mind,” Lolohea told Radio Sport.

“We don’t play for money, we play for the pride of the jersey and our families back in the islands. That is how passionate we are about representing Tonga.

“I represented New Zealand two years and I wasn’t eligible to play for Tonga but they changed the rules so it’s happy days for me. I get another opportunity and I think the World Cup is going to be awesome.”

Despite playing five Tests for the Kiwis last year, Tonga-born Kata told the New Zealand Herald: "I want to play for Tonga - I just know that is what I want to do. I want to play a World Cup for my country, to represent my family”.

Jennings, who is eligible for Fiji through his father, rejected approaches to play for the Bati and said he was also looking forward to representing Tonga.

“My eyes are set for Tonga if I don’t get the opportunity to play for Australia,” Jennings told The Fiji Times. “My first preference is Australia, then Tonga.”

With Titans centre Konrad Hurrell also likely to be available, Tonga coach Kristian Woolf’s biggest problem could be finding a position for the trio in the outside backs as he already has Will Hopoate, Manu Vatuvei, Daniel Tupou at his disposal.

"My gut feel is that Konrad would prefer to play for Tonga [over New Zealand]," Woolf said.

"He is very passionate about it and it has certainly been a stance of his before. He is born and bred and very proud of that. All the conversations I've had is that he is preparing to play for Tonga."

Injury blows for Samoa, Wales, NZ

In contrast to Tonga, Samoa are searching for a new five-eighth after Penrith rookie Tyrone May suffered a season-ending knee injury in last Friday night’s finals defeat by Brisbane.

May had been pencilled in to replace Broncos superstar Anthony Milford but scheduled for surgery and six months rehabilitation after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament.

Panthers fullback Daniel Brown has also been ruled out of the Wales squad after suffering the same injury in the Under 20s round 26 clash with Manly, while forward Corey Harawira-Naera needs a shoulder reconstruction and is unavailable for New Zealand.

Marum focuses on Hunters

David Westley is set to pit wits with his former Canberra team-mate Mal Meninga as part of the PNG coaching team in Saturday’s match against the Prime Minister’s XIII in Port Moreseby.

With the PNG Hunters playing Sunshine Coast Falcons in the Queensland Cup grand final at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday, Kumuls coach Michael Marum is unable to be at both matches.

As the PNG team will comprise players from the local competition, Marum has drawn on the services of Snacks Tigers coach Stanley Tepend, Hela Wigmen’s Roderick Puname and Steven Nightingale of Agmark Gurias.

They will work with Westley, who played alongside Meninga in Canberra’s 1994 premiership winning team, and fellow Kumuls assists Solomon Kuluniasi, Arnold Krewanty and Leonard Tarum. “I’m just overseeing everything to make sure it all goes well and my main focus is on the Hunters preparations,” Marum said.

The Hunters will hold an open training session for fans on Thursday before flying to Brisbane for the grand final and a place in the State Championship final against the winner of the NSW Cup the following Sunday.

No room for Widdop says JJB

Veteran England forward Jamie Jones Buchanan believes Wayne Bennett should opt for George Williams over Gareth Widdop as halfback at the World Cup.

Jones-Buchanan, who has represented England or Great Britain in 15 Tests, could find no room for Widdop when he named his starting line-up on BBC radio last week.

The Leeds second rower believes Bennett should partner the Wigan playmaker with Castleford’s Luke Gale in the halves, saying: “Just his ability to run with the ball and kick the ball, he has got some great off the cuff vision. I just think he needs to link up with Luke Gale and cement a really good halfback partnership”.

He also said former Brisbane Broncos winger Greg Eden, who has scored 41 tries in 28 games for Castleford this season, had earned his first England jersey over Huddersfield’s Jermaine McGillvary.

“He has missed a few games as well and still managed to keep the try scoring tally kicking over,” Buchanan said. “He can score a try and he has got a lot of confidence.”

Buchanan’s England XIII: Zac Hardaker; Greg Eden, Kallum Watkins, Mark Percival, Ryan Hall; Luke Gale, George Williams; James Graham, Josh Hodgson, Sam Burgess, Elliott Whitehead, John Bateman, Sean O’Loughlin (captain).

USA warm-up with win over Canada

Bureta Faraimo scored a hat-trick of tries and Junior Vaivai crossed for two others as the United States continued their build up towards the World Cup with a 36-18 defeat of Canada in Toronto.

The win secured the Americas Champions Trophy for the Hawks after Test wins over the Wolverines and Jamaica earlier this year.

“This game has put us in a great position to evaluate our strengths and weaknesses heading into the World Cup and the win is a great morale boost for the team,” USA coach Sean Rutgerson said.

The Test was played as a double header with Toronto Wolfpack’s final match of the season against Doncaster and was watched by a crowd of 8,456 at Lamport Stadium.

By Brad Walter | @BradWalterSport
Chief Correspondent, RLWC2017