'He's a freak': England warned about Joseph Suaalii threat ahead of World Cup semi-final

Exciting 19-year-old Joseph Suaalii turned down the chance to play for Australia to put his hand up to represent Samoa and has enhanced his burgeoning reputation with a series of impressive full-back displays to help take them to within 80 minutes of an unlikely final.

Samoa stand-off Anthony Milford, himself something of a maverick, said of the Sydney Rooster: “He’s a freak. And he’s just building, he’s only going to get better. The sky’s the limit for him.”

Suaalii was man of the match in his team’s 20-18 quarter-final victory over Tonga in Warrington, where he ran almost 240 metres, came up with five tackle busts and made a break that set up the winning try.

If England coach Shaun Wane needs any more information on Suaalii, he only needs to speak to his loose forward Victor Radley, a Roosters team-mate who is well aware of his threat.

“Joseph is a young freak,” said Radley. “He has been good for them in this tournament, he has been their best player.

“We know what is coming and we are going to get in front of him and hit him hard. But he is a really good player, very tough and skilful.

“Our coaching team have watched his games and seen what I see. We will have to do a good job on him.”

Suaalii, who made his NRL debut at 17, has been used in the threequarters by Roosters coach Trent Robinson with James Tedesco occupying the number one shirt and Joey Manu providing further competition.

Remarkably, all three Roosters players will be appearing at full-back for their countries in the semi-finals, with Tedesco going up against Manu when Australia meet New Zealand on Friday night.

Samoa coach Matt Parish said of his full-back: “He could have chosen to play for Australia but he committed to Samoa like a lot of these young men, which is pleasing.

“He has been unbelievable for our group for a young man. He has been well-schooled and well-educated. Certainly, I think he is enjoying the ride at the moment.

“He is pretty good in any position you put him in. He has a long career ahead of him, which is going to be exciting to watch.”

Castleford Tigers head coach Lee Radford, who is Samoa’s defence coach, said: “What you see on the field, he delivers off it as well.

“For a 19-year-old kid to have his own meetings in team sessions is phenomenal and what we’ve seen in the World Cup from game one to game four is the niches of playing full-back, he’s developed them so quickly.

“I think you’re going to see a very special player over the next five, six, seven or eight years.”