Shenton had Mr Hodges in his pocket throughout last years 4N despite still being very young. You'll see Shenton come alive next year in a dominant Saints team.
Tahu's a good player dont get me wrong, probably better than Shenton at this stage but there aint a lot in it.
I actually misread what you said, I thought you wrote that those backs were easily better than Englands not as good, ive just re-read it now. Id take Englands though tbh and we're not even taking our imo best 2 centres to the 4N this year. How Gleeson didnt get picked I dont know and Bridge is streets better than Atkins but chose to stay home as his partner is giving birth, fair comment really. England will win by about 16 next week without breaking too much of a sweat.

Timana Tahu, the dual code Australian international, picked for the NZ Maori side.

If you can find a country on a map, you qualify to play for them according to the RLIF. It's getting way, way out of hand

The Maoris side is not an official side and it not a Test match, its like playing an Australian Aboriginal side.
Tahu's father is a Maori.
Its just a cobbled together team to give England someone vastly better than Wales to play a warm up against.

Regardless, it makes a mockery of our international set up. official or unofficial, players should not be allowed to jump between countries to make up numbers. It damages our international game and makes the games international body look like a joke.

Maybe Dico but Hodges has not been up to it for a couple of seasons with injuries and loss of pace, he really should not have been on that tour.
He has barely played a handful of games since

But playing for the Maori side is not representing a country, its representing a culture.
I know what you mean but there are worse instances out there.
I am looking forward to this game, I hope its televised.

Agreed re- the Maori game.

As for Samoa, it is a crying shame on the RLIF Tonga v Samoa hasn't been made a permanent annual stand alone fixture given the quality of the RLWC encounter in 2008 which clearly showed it should be.

That Maori squad looks pretty avg to me, the Samoa one looks much stronger.

Possibly because most of the best Maori players are already in the Kiwi team...

along with Fiji, There should be a tri nations every year the 4nations is in Oz/NZ featuring the three non qualifying pacific nations and a 4nations with all 4 of them when it is in Europe.

The pacific cup doesn't have enough prestige and attract the NRL stars (that didn't make the Oz or NZ teams!)

Like say David Mead from the Titans who dominated the last Pacific Cup (2009) for PNG?

lol

Yea, I know what you are saying, but I would rather see a young NewZealander picked to represent his country's culture/herritage, than a has-been like Tahu.

I think it will be a good test for England. The Maori team looks strong, and it will give us a fairly good indication of just how much mettle our fairly young squad have, going into the tournement.

To be honest, I'd be tempted to go the other way.

A combined Pacific Islands team would be a major RL force.

I'm aware of the cultural rivalry, but no more so than Jamaica vs. Barbados vs. Guyana, and they manage to combine to play international cricket. And there would still be a place for Tonga/Samoa/Cook Is/Fiji to exist outside major competition.

The Barbarians of Southern Hemishpere RL then?

maybe tahu will play with more passion for the maori than NSW or australia......oh hang on..