St Helens centre Willie Talau has agreed to play for Samoa in the repechage final.
Watch Lebanon v Samoa live on Sky Sports 2 from 7.30pm Wednesday
St Helens centre Willie Talau has agreed to help Samoa in their bid to clinch the 10th and final place at next year's World Cup.
Former Canterbury Bulldogs ace Talau, who helped take St Helens to Carnegie Challenge Cup victory and the Super League Grand Final last season, will play in Wednesday's repechage final against Lebanon.
The prize for winning will be a place at the tournament in Australia next year and Talau has therefore decided to switch his allegiance.
He won 12 caps for New Zealand between 1999 and 2006 and competed at the 2000 World Cup with the Kiwis.
Motivation
But the Samoa-born 31-year-old has now decided to join Leeds Rhinos second-rower Ali Lauitiiti, Wigan loose forward Harrison Hansen, former Warrington stand-off Nigel Vagana and the Puletua brothers in the Samoa squad, with boss Tony Puletua taking nothing for granted.
"We're expecting a tough match because, if you look at the Cedars, most of their players come from clubs in Australian competitions," said Puletua.
"They will have been brought up in a competitive environment so we're taking them seriously."
A place in Group C alongside Tonga and Ireland is at stake and Lebanon team manager George Elias admits it is a huge incentive.
"We have fantastic support not just from the Lebanon but from the sizeable Lebanese community in Australia," Elias said.
"And, if we do beat Samoa we would be going into next year's finals in Australia confident that we would have the second-biggest support in the competition."
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