We are re-publishing this episode of our podcast 'Tama Samoa: Samoans in the NRL' as Toa Samoa, and Fetū Samoa (the Samoan women's national team) do battle in this year's Rugby League Pacific Championships. Both came agonisingly close to defeating their New Zealand opponents in Aotearoa last Sunday.
As Joyce Mata'ia explains, there is nothing more convincing than a Samoan mother telling her son which country he should play for.
Some of the old stars in the NRL are in this episode, including some who are pioneers of Samoans playing professional rugby league in Australia, Aotearoa and England.
Nigel Vaganā is a household name in Australian rugby league having played for the Canterbury Bulldogs and South Sydney and for Toa Samoa.
Josh Papali'i is in the current Toa Samoa squad and still capable of those bulldozing runs as we saw last Sunday against the Kiwis.
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Roger Tuivasa-Sheck mo le Toa Samoa
Of course, all the talk in this Rugby League Pacific Championship is around Payne Haas choosing to play for Toa Samoa instead of touring with the Australian national team to the UK.
Many commentators argue that freeing up players to represent their countries of heritage is good for the game of rugby league and makes the Pacific Rugby League Championship more competitive.
We agree. Just look at Mate Ma'a, the Tongan national rugby league team - they've beaten everyone.
Mo nisi talafou ma ripoti, fa'afofoga i le SBS Samoan i le 'upega tafa'ilagi poo le SBS Radio app, pe asiasi i le Facebook SBS Samoan
