England and Samoa have named their teams for their blockbuster World Cup semi-final rematch.
New Zealand will be without star enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves for their semi-final clash with Australia.
Waerea-Hargreaves is still battling a hamstring injury which he suffered earlier in the tournament.
Kiwis’ coach Michael Maguire has brought Penrith’s Moses Leota into the extended squad.
Australian selector Laurie Daley has revealed that Nathan Cleary and Ben Hunt will start in the Kangaroos’ semi final clash against New Zealand on Saturday.
Samoa skipper Junior Paulo has been cleared to play in the World Cup semi final after successfully overturning a one-match ban.
Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga, meanwhile. has hinted at some changes to the Australian bench for their semi-final showdown with New Zealand.
Australia vs New Zealand 6.45am AEDT, Saturday 12 November
Australia squad alphabetical: 9. Josh Addo-Carr 6. Reagan Campbell-Gillard 13. Patrick Carrigan 2. Daly Cherry-Evans 14. Nathan Cleary 16. Reuben Cotter 17. Angus Crichton 18. Tino Fa’asuamaleaui 20. Harry Grant 4. Valentine Holmes 3. Ben Hunt 21. Liam Martin 8. Latrell Mitchell 7. Cameron Munster 11. Cameron Murray (vc) 1. James Tedesco (capt.) 5. Jake Trbojevic 10. Jack Wighton 24. Isaah Yeo (vc)
Late mail: Australian selector Laurie Daley has revealed that Nathan Cleary and Ben Hunt will start in the Kangaroos’ semi final clash against New Zealand on Saturday.
There’s been a lot of conjecture throughout the duration of the tournament as to who’ll steer the ship at halfback and it appears Meninga has stuck with the Cleary.
While Hunt will have Harry Grant as his replacement against the Kiwis, Daly Cherry-Evans will sit out of Australia’s fixture altogether.
Meninga recently revealed that he would opt with an all forward bench, which will see Cleary most likely play a full 80 minutes alongside his halves partner Cameron Munster.
Kangaroos selector Laurie Daley revealed the news on the Big Sports Breakfast on Wednesday morning.
MAL’S BIG HINT OVER NO.9 BATTLE
Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga told Fox League ahead of Australia’s quarter-final that the team was basically settled. That means we can expect Nathan Cleary and Cameron Munster to partner up in the halves again this week, Valentine Holmes and Josh Addo-Carr on the wings and Jack Wighton and Latrell Mitchell in the centres. Isaah Yeo beat Cameron Murray to the lock role but the latter will be on the bench, while Liam Martin’s Penrith combination earned him a spot in the starting second row with Angus Crichton on the other side. Skipper James Tedesco suffered a cork against Lebanon and failed to finish the game, but is expected to be cleared to face New Zealand. Reagan Campbell-Gillard could come into contention for the forward pack after missing the quarter-final due to a cork. The big selection call Meninga will have to make is who will fill the bench utility role. Ben Hunt was rested during the quarter-final, opening the door for Daly Cherry-Evans to put his hand up. The veteran played 40 minutes off the bench and while he didn’t set the world on fire, he was solid, running for 42 metres, getting four tackle busts and making 13 tackles with zero misses.
Meninga said the quality of the Kiwi forwards could force his hand when it comes to the Kangaroos bench.
“We’re obviously going to be tested defensively this week coming up… we lacked a bit of composure (against Lebanon), if we want to win the World Cup we’ve got to grind and get a good victory out,” Meninga said on SENQ Mornings.
“We’ll pick and stick, we’ve got a couple of things we want to look at from our bench point of view, I’m pretty comfortable with our starting 13 I think that works really well.
“We’ve got Reagan Campbell-Gillard perhaps to come back into the 13 and Benny Hunt’s back this week because we rested him.
“Probably a couple of players might miss out this week because I’m pretty keen on getting those two involved (Hunt and Campbell-Gillard).
“Maybe we go for an all-forwards bench this week to obviously counteract the big forwards and quality of the New Zealand pack.”
The comments could mean Cherry-Evans loses his spot and may have played his final game of the tournament.
“It’s no secret that they work very well together Ben and Harry (Grant) they did really well at Origin level, and they’ve done really in the first couple of games together, they’re fit and raring to go, at this stage I would think both are going to play,” Meninga said.
On Tuesday Hunt trained in a group of 13 with Campbell-Gillard which appeared to indicate it would be Grant dropping back to the bench.
New Zealand squad alphabetical: Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Jesse Bromwich, Kenny Bromwich, Dylan Brown, James Fisher-Harris, Kieran Foran, Peta Hiku, Jahrome Hughes, Isaac Liu, Joseph Manu, Ronaldo Mulitalo, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Briton Nikora, Isaiah Papali’i, Jordan Rapana, Brandon Smith, Joseph Tapine, Scott Sorensen, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak.
Late mail:Jared Waerea-Hargreaves has failed to overcome a hamstring injury and has been left out of the Kiwis’ extended squad. Moses Leota, who is fresh off a hamstring injury himself, has been included in the extended squad instead. Marata Niukore was due to return from a pectoral injury but was not included in Maguire’s squad.
England vs Samoa 1.30am AEDT, Sunday 13 November
England team: 1 Sam Tomkins, 2 Tommy Makinson, 3 Kallum Watkins, 4 Herbie Farnworth, 6 Jack Welsby, 7 George Williams, 8 Tom Burgess, 9 Micky McIlorum, 10 Luke Thompson, 11 Elliott Whitehead, 12 John Bateman, 13 Victor Radley 14 Dom Young, 15 Morgan Knowles, 17 Mike Cooper, 18 Chris Hill, 20 Mike McMeeken, 21 Marc Sneyd, 24 Kai Pearce-Paul
Late mail: To come.
Samoa team(alphabetical): 21 Fa’amanu Brown, 4 Stephen Crichton, 20 Chanel Harris-Tavita, 15 Royce Hunt, 23 Oregon Kaufusi, 25 Tim Lafai, 16 Spencer Leniu , 6 Jarome Luai, 2 Taylan May, 7 Anthony Milford, 8 Josh Papalii’i, 10 Junior Paulo (c), 11 Ligi Sao, 26 Ken Sio, 12 Jaydn Su’a, 1 Joseph Sua’ali’i, 17 Martin Taupau, 5 Brian To’o, 22 Kelma Tuilagi
Late mail: Samoa has been handed a huge boost for their semi final clash against England with captain Junior Paulo overturning a one-match ban. Paulo was put on report and then suspended for striking Tongan star David Fifita with a forearm to the throat in the quarterfinal. On Wednesday his appeal was successful
Meanwhile, Joseph Suaalii — who was a standout in Samoa’s two-point win — was put on report for lifting his knees when being tackled by Felise Kaufusi, but the teenager has escaped with a caution.
The offence is something the 19-year-old has form in given he was given a concerning act notice by the NRL’s match review committee for doing the same thing earlier this year.
“I would be surprised if anything came of that,” Samoa coach Matt Parish said of the incident.
