Samoa just lost a star ahead of Kangaroos World Cup SF. Here’s why they’re not sweating

November 2, 2026 — 4:54amMove over, Alexander Volkanovski. There’s a new ‘Volk’ in town, and Samoan coach Ben Gardiner has backed rising five-eighth Ronald Volkman to step up to the plate for next Sunday’s World Cup semi-final showdown against the Kangaroos.The 24-year-old Eels playmaker is set to wear the No.6 jersey against Kevin Walters’ side after replacing Chanel Harris-Tavita during Samoa’s 20-18 hard-fought loss to Tonga on Sunday night at Parramatta’s CommBank Stadium.Harris-Tavita, 27, clutched at his left hamstring after missing his second straight conversion in the 53rd minute and immediately limped off.Harris-Tavita will be sweating on scan results.Getty ImagesWhile Gardiner didn’t have an update on Sunday night, Harris-Tavita will have scans that will likely confirm the inevitable: that the Warriors star has all but played his last minutes in this year’s World Cup.Despite Sunday’s epic Pacific nations clash going down to the wire, Harris-Tavita didn’t return to the sideline to watch the final 20 minutes.But had he made his way onto the sidelines, he would have seen Volkman seamlessly fill the void as he scored a try and helped Samoa temporarily gain the lead, before Addin Fonua-Blake’s match-winner for Tonga.Ronald Volkman celebrates after scoring against Tonga.Getty ImagesIt’s why Gardiner wasn’t sweating on the surface following their two-point defeat, which saw Samoa pencilled in to meet Australia on Sunday instead of taking on New Zealand 24 hours earlier in Newcastle.“Ronald’s done a great job,” he said.“He did a fantastic job last week for us. He came on at the back end of the game in a slightly different role for a different reason.“He did a really good job when he came on. I thought he brought great energy. I thought his speed into the line really put pressure on the Tongan team. And we’ve got trust in every player in our team. So, it doesn’t matter who goes on. The guys that are in our squad, we’ve got complete trust in them, and they will go and do a job for us.”While the narrow defeat denied Samoa some winning momentum heading into the knockouts, the men in blue will have several reasons to believe they can upset Australia four years after the Kangaroos beat them 30-10 in the 2022 World Cup final.Indeed, Gardiner’s side outscored Tonga four tries to three, but three missed conversions proved costly for Samoa.Samoa were their own worst enemies during the opening half too, where they made nine errors to five.They also were left to rue Sua Fa’alogo’s foot in touch in the final few minutes, with the flying winger denied a match-winning try.“We did a good job of scoring tries,” Gardiner said. “We couldn’t convert all of our tries, which is disappointing, but that’s one of those things that happens in rugby league.“But I’m very happy with the performance. Not happy with the fact we didn’t win, but happy with the effort, happy with the intensity and the way that we went about our business for the most part.”Garinder said he didn’t have a preference on his semi-final opponent, but added that he had been impressed by the Kangaroos’ form throughout the competition.“Their form’s been very strong,” he said.“They’ve got fantastic players. They’ve got players that have played a lot of games for the Kangaroos.“They’re in a really good position at the moment. They’ve won three footy matches on the trot and they’re going to be a really hard side to beat next week.”Tom Trbojevic scored a hat-trick for Australia.Getty ImagesOne area where Samoa could have an advantage is that they’ll be battle-hardened, having come off an emotional and physical ding-dong battle with Tonga as the Kangaroos cruised past the Cook Islands 66-6 in Townsville.In one of the games of the World Cup, where the atmosphere was State of Origin-esque in its tribal nature and did plenty to breathe life and excitement into the tournament, Gardiner said the seven-day turnaround would help his side.“An extra day in any week of rugby league is important,” he said. “I think an extra day adds recovery opportunity.“At the end of the day, when you play a long season and then you have physical, intense games at the end of the year like this, recovery is of the utmost importance. So to be able to have an extra day, yeah, it will help us. It’ll make us feel like our bodies are better when we go to train in the early part of the week.”News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Friday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.From our partners