Samoa break Fiji hearts to reach women’s RL World Cup
Samoa’s women have secured a return to the Rugby League World Cup after breaking Fiji’s hearts with a late 16-12 come-from-behind win in Auckland.
In a direct playoff for the 2026 tournament, Samoa became the seventh team to officially qualify, despite spending the majority of Saturday’s second half trailing.
The result leaves Fiji needing to win the intercontinental World Series next year, against the likes of Ireland and Nigeria in order to progress to their first World Cup.
But Saturday’s result was not without drama, with only two late tries to Brisbane prop Annetta-Claudia Nu’uausala saving Samoa from a shock loss.
The former New Zealand representative came on and put the Pacific nation on her back, busting 17 tackles and producing the three most crucial plays of the match.
Armed with several NRLW players and after beating Tonga 30-16, the Jamie Soward-coached Samoan side had entered as clear favourites to qualify.
And they looked on course early, with Jess Patea and dual-code Australia representative Eviana Pelite tearing Fiji’s right edge to shreds.
But Fiji somehow led 12-4 at the break after two tries in four minutes.
Centre Sienna Laing first ran onto a shallow Luisa Yaranamua kick to score the Bulikula’s first, before Abigayle Sekitoga went 90 metres to score after the siren.
The Bulikula then looked likely to hang on for the majority of the second half, as Samoa missed several chances and Cassie Staples proved a pillar at the back for Fiji.
But the game swung again when Nu’uausala crashed over with 14 minutes to play, keeping her side in the match.
Samoa went close again off a Masaga break, but when Mercedez Taulelei-Siala was pulled up short and Pelite went off with an injured knee, all hopes appeared dashed.
But Nu’uausala would not be denied, first breaking through three defenders to put Samoa on the front foot.
And on the next play Samoa’s captain was at it again, barging her way through five more defenders from close distance to get the ball down with two minutes to play.
“What a hard-fought game, to the end,” Nu’uausala said.
“We had a really hard week coming into this game. But we pulled through, put our differences aside and got the win for our nation.”
The result means Samoa will return to the World Cup for the first time since 2008.
They will also play Papua New Guinea next Sunday at CommBank Stadium, with a chance to also qualify for the top division of the Pacific Championships next year.
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