When England kick off their campaign for the Rugby League World Cup on Saturday at St. James’s Park, they will be taking on a Samoa team that is extremely dangerous.
Despite the fact that Samoa has only competed in a single match since 2019, several outstanding talents from the National Rugby League have opted to represent Samoa rather than either Australia or New Zealand because of recent changes to eligibility rules.
The English team is hoping to advance one round further than they did in the 2017 competition, when they were defeated in the final by the hosts, Australia, by a score of 6-0.
Are you looking forward to the first game for both teams? This is how you can watch the action from where you are currently located.
MORE: Why is the upcoming Rugby League World Cup referred to as the RLWC 2021?
When does the match between England and Samoa start?
St. James’ Park in Newcastle, England, will play host to England’s match against Samoa. On Saturday, October 15, at 14:30 hours British Summer Time, it will get underway.
| UK | USA | Canada | Australia | |
| Date | Saturday, October 15 | Saturday, October 15 | Saturday, October 15 | Sunday, October 16 |
| Time | 14:30 BST | 09:30 ET | 09:30 ET | 00:30 AEDT |
How to watch the match between England and Samoa
| UK | Australia | New Zealand | |
| TV channel | BBC One, BBC Two | — | |
| Streaming | BBC iPlayer | Foxtel, Kayo Sports | Spark Sport |
In the United Kingdom, every game from England, Scotland, and Wales will be broadcast on either BBC One or BBC Two, as well as the BBC iPlayer.
All of the games will be broadcast in Australia on Fox League, and live streaming of the matches is also available on Kayo.
Spark Sport is the only place in New Zealand where you can live stream every game.
England vs. Samoa squads
Sam Tomkins, Tommy Makinson, Kallum Watkins, Herbie Farnworth, Jack Welsby, George Williams, Tom Burgess, Micky McIlorum, Luke Thompson, Elliott Whitehead, Victor Radley, Dom Young, Morgan Knowles, Matty Lees, Mike Cooper, Chris Hill, Mike McMeeken, Marc Sneyd, Kai Pearce-Paul, and Jack Welsby represented England in the match.
Samoa’s roster included the following players: Joseph Suaalii, Stephen Crichton, Brian To’o, Jarome Luai, Anthony Milford, Josh Papalii, Danny Levi, Junior Paulo, Jayden Su’a, Josh Aloiai, Tyrone May, Spencer Leniu, Martin Taupa’u, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Kelma Tuilagi, Oregon Kaufusi, and Kelm Braden Hamlin-Uele
READ MORE About the Rugby League World Cup 2022, including which jerseys each nation will be wearing.
England vs. Samoa betting odds
When asked about his team’s chances against Samoa at an event to launch the tournament, England head coach Shaun Wane described his squad as the underdog. Samoa is the team that England will face.
Samoa has never advanced further than the quarterfinals of a tournament, and the fact that England is one of the teams competing for the championship means that the hosts do not have significantly longer odds to win their first Group A game.
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