England eye answers over Samoa 2024 Test series by the end of the year
ENGLAND will get Samoa around a table to thrash out whether they will tour next year or not in the coming days.
And bosses hope to have a definitive answer by the end of 2023.
The Pacific islanders have been told to rethink their decision to stay Down Under after they went back on an apparent agreement to visit these shores in 2024.
Nothing was ever signed, meaning they could but it has also thrown the supposedly six-team Pacific Championship into chaos.
Now SunSport has learned talks between bosses on both sides of the world will take place imminently.
Travel costs, training bases and hotels – they would have to be funded either by sponsorship or from Rugby League Commercial – are likely to be on the agenda.
But sources also say they want an answer, one way or the other, by December 31.
If Samoa say yes, venues and dates can be arranged, with Huddersfield down the pecking order after only 11,000 turned up to the second Test between England and Tonga.
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Wigan, Hull and Leeds lead the way with last year’s World Cup finalists, who stunned hosts England 27-26 in the semi-final, by far the preferred option.
One way of forcing their hand can be for International Rugby League to decline them a place in next year’s Pacific Championship as Tonga will join Australia and New Zealand.
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But if Samoa stay resolute and still refuse to travel, new opponents would have to be found if Shaun Wane’s side is to get ‘meaningful’ action over here next autumn.
England tour Australia in 2025 and New Zealand is the heavy favourite to host the 2026 World Cup.
Should Samoa refuse, Papua New Guinea – who have plenty of players in Super League and the Championship - are thought to be the favourites to come.