Samoa 18–32 Tonga — Group B, 2017 Rugby League World Cup
4 Nov 2017 · Waikato Stadium, Hamilton, New Zealand · Attendance: 18,156
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Group B, 2017 Rugby League World Cup: Samoa 18–32 Tonga, at Waikato Stadium, Hamilton, New Zealand on 4 Nov 2017.
Scorers
| Samoa | Tries: Lafai (2) — count uncertain; Roberts — uncertain Goals: Lafai (3/3) |
| Tonga | Tries: Jennings (2) — count uncertain; Ma'u; Murdoch-Masila; Terepo Goals: Taukeiaho (4/4); Hingano (2/2) |
Teams
| Samoa | Tonga | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yee-Huang Tonumaipe'a | Fullback | William Hopoate | 1 |
| 2 | Ricky Leutele | Wing | Daniel Tupou | 2 |
| 3 | Tim Lafai | Centre | Michael Jennings | 3 |
| 4 | Joseph Leilua | Centre | Solomone Kata | 4 |
| 5 | Ken Maumalo | Wing | David Fusitu'a | 5 |
| 20 | Jarome Luai — unusual squad number | Stand off/Five eighth | Tui Lolohea | 6 |
| 7 | Ben Roberts | Scrum half/Half back | Ata Hingano | 7 |
| 8 | Junior Paulo | Prop forward | Andrew Fifita | 8 |
| 9 | Jazz Tevaga | Hooker | Sione Katoa — unusual squad number | 14 |
| 10 | Herman Ese'ese | Prop forward | Siosiua Taukeiaho | 10 |
| 11 | Josh Papalii | Second row | Manu Ma'u | 11 |
| 12 | Frank Pritchard (c) | Second row | Sika Manu (c) | 12 |
| 13 | Leeson Ah Mau | Loose forward/Lock forward | Jason Taumalolo | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | Fa'amanu Brown | Siliva Havili | 9 | |
| 15 | Zane Musgrove | Sam Moa | 15 | |
| 16 | Sam Lisone | Peni Terepo | 16 | |
| 17 | Bunty Afoa | Ben Murdoch-Masila | 17 | |
| Matt Parish | Coach | Kristian Woolf | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Ben Cummins (Australia) |
| Touch judges | Tim Roby — single-sourced, David Munro — single-sourced |
| Player of the match | Andrew Fifita (Tonga) |
Match report
Tonga beat Samoa 32-18 at Hamilton, Andrew Fifita named player of the match. Exact individual try tallies for several players (Tim Lafai and Michael Jennings in particular) could not be confirmed with certainty across repeated source checks — the breakdown below is the best-fit reading that reconciles arithmetically to the final score, but should be treated as lower confidence than the rest of this match's data.
Previous World Cup meetings
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)