New Zealand 38–8 Samoa — Group B, 2017 Rugby League World Cup
28 Oct 2017 · Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand · Attendance: 17,857
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Group B, 2017 Rugby League World Cup: New Zealand 38–8 Samoa, at Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand on 28 Oct 2017.
Scorers
| New Zealand | Tries: Rapana; Johnson; Takairangi; Liu; Nikorima; Tuivasa-Sheck; Asofa-Solomona Goals: Johnson (5) |
| Samoa | Tries: Paulo; Maumalo |
Teams
| New Zealand | Samoa | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roger Tuivasa-Sheck | Fullback | Yee-Huang Tonumaipe'a | 1 |
| 2 | Dallin Watene-Zelezniak | Wing | Peter Mata'utia | 2 |
| 3 | Gerard Beale | Centre | Tim Lafai | 3 |
| 4 | Brad Takairangi | Centre | Joey Leilua | 4 |
| 5 | Jordan Rapana | Wing | Ken Maumalo | 5 |
| 6 | Kodi Nikorima | Five-eighth | Joseph Paulo | 6 |
| 7 | Shaun Johnson | Halfback | Ben Roberts | 7 |
| 8 | Martin Taupau | Front row | Junior Paulo | 8 |
| 9 | Thomas Leuluai | Hooker | Jazz Tevaga | 9 |
| 10 | Adam Blair | Front row (c) | Sam Lisone | 10 |
| 11 | Simon Mannering | Second row | Josh Papali'i | 11 |
| 12 | Joseph Tapine | Second row | Frank Pritchard | 12 |
| UNCONFIRMED | Jared Waerea-Hargreaves | Lock | Leeson Ah Mau | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | Nelson Asofa-Solomona | Pita Godinet | 14 | |
| 15 | Russell Packer | Herman Ese'ese | 15 | |
| 16 | Isaac Liu | Suaia Matagi | 16 | |
| 17 | Danny Levi | Bunty Afoa | 17 | |
| David Kidwell | Coach | Matt Parish | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Not confirmed to Tier-1 standard |
| Player of the match | Not confirmed to Tier-1 standard |
Match report
New Zealand beat Samoa 38-8 in Auckland, Jordan Rapana scoring inside four minutes and Shaun Johnson kicking 5 goals as three Kiwis (Brad Takairangi, Isaac Liu, Nelson Asofa-Solomona) made their Test debuts.
Sourcing caveat: Sourced from rugbyleagueproject.org's match-3 page for this tournament, cross-checked against a contemporaneous NZ Herald teamlist article and this entry's own already-verified try-scorer list (Asofa-Solomona and Liu's interchange listing matches their try-scorer credits). One earlier project note assumed a Ken Maumalo-to-Samoa credit was an extraction error on the theory he only played for New Zealand — this is now corrected: contemporary October 2017 reporting confirms Maumalo was already capped for Samoa by this match. New Zealand's number 13 is marked UNCONFIRMED because the NZ Herald's raw quoted numbering diverged from rugbyleagueproject.org's structured listing for that one slot (10 vs 18), while Adam Blair at 10 and the rest of the XIII+bench grouping were consistent across both sources.
Previous World Cup meetings
- 2013 Rugby League World Cup (Group B): New Zealand 42–24 Samoa
Sources
- 2017 Rugby League World Cup final — Wikipedia
- Rugby League World Cup: Australia beat England 6-0 to retain trophy — BBC Sport
- Famous Fixtures: Australia v England | 2017 Rugby League World Cup Final — rugby-league.com
- Australia 6-0 England: Kangaroos win Rugby League World Cup — Sky Sports
- 2017 Rugby League World Cup Final Team Lists & Officials — League Unlimited
- 2017 Rugby League World Cup — Wikipedia (full group/knockout results)