Vodafone Junior Warriors prop Sam Lisone starts for the Junior Kiwis against the Junior Kangaroos in tonight’s one-off clash at Mount Smart Stadium (7.00pm kick-off).
Named vice-captain, Lisone has only one other team-mate in the Junior Kiwis from the NYC premiership-winning Vodafone Junior Warriors.
That’s utility Adam Tuimavave-Gerrard, who has been included on the bench.
Lisone and Tuimavave-Gerrard both made 50 or more NYC appearances as they ended their time in the grade in the grand final three weeks ago bit this is the first time they’ve been selected for the Junior Kiwis.
Manaia Cherrington (Wests Tigers) captains the side from hooker. He is one of three survivors from last year’s loss to the Australians in sweltering heat in Sydney. The other two are halfback Zach Dockar-Clay (Parramatta) and second rower Joseph Tapine (Newcastle).
The Kiwis certainly won’t need to worry about heat for this year’s fixture, the first on New Zealand soil since 2010. Auckland has this afternoon been hit by the remnants of the storm which struck Sydney earlier in the week; heavy rain has been falling in the city ensuring conditions will be wet and slippery at best.
- Live coverage of the Junior Kiwis v Junior Kangaroos starts on SKY Sport 2 at 7.00pm.
JUNIOR KIWIS v JUNIOR KANGAROOS
Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland
7.00pm, Saturday, October 18
JUNIOR KIWIS
1 KODI NIKORIMA
2 CHANCE PENI
3 TAANE MILNE
4 WATSON HELETA
5 SAM MANULELEUA
6 TE MAIRE MARTIN
7 ZACH DOCKAR-CLAY
8 SAM LISONE (v/c)
9 MANAIA CHERRINGTON (c)
10 ADDIN FONUA-BLAKE
11 JOSEPH TAPINE
12 NELSON ASOFA-SOLOMONA
13 JOSH ALOIAI
Interchange:
14 DANNY LEVI
15 LAMAR LIOLEVAVE
16 BRADEN UELE
17 ADAM TUIMAVAVE-GERRARD
COACH: BRENT GEMMELL
