Junior Kangaroos vs Junior Kiwis

Last year the Junior Kiwis upset the Junior Kangaroos in an intense encounter in Auckland and they'll be gunning for an upset once again. The Aussies boast a number of players with NRL experience and not just 'we've got a few injuries, go have a run mate' type of experience but 'we can't leave that bloke out' type of NRL experience.

Obviously I'm looking mostly at Valentine Holmes here who will play on the wing, because they also have Jackson Hastings who has played a few games for the Roosters. Hastings will play at fullback, with Holmes joined by Robert Jennings and Brenko Lee in a back five that is slightly scary. Jordan Drew is the other lad here, he's a centre from the Broncos.

Both the starting props for the Aussies have played NRL footy with Joe Ofahengaue playing a few games for the Broncos this year and Mathew Lodge playing his games last season with the Tigers. Two props with NRL experience and some bloke named Tepai Moeroa, who has quickly emerged as one of the brightest NRL forward prospects of recent memory.

Also keep an eye on Moeroa's back row comrades with Coen Hess being celebrated edge player from the Cowboys and Tevita Pangai Junior likely to wreak havoc through the middle. Pangai is from the Raiders and has been around these Junior teams for a while.

Those three starting back rowers are all big lads and the Junior Kiwis will go with a slightly smaller crew despite Lamar Liolevave getting some NRL game time with the Tigers. He is joined by Junior Warriors duo in Marata Niukore who will play on the other edge and Jazz Tevaga who is a rugged middle man. They're smaller but might offer some more footwork and spark, who knows.

Nelson Asofa-Solomona will start at prop and he is a young lad with endless amounts of talent after being scouted by the Melbourne Storm from schoolboy rugby in Wellington. He hasn't played in the NRL yet but has been playing in the Intrust Super Cup and is a big lad with all the skills. Also starting at prop is James Fisher-Harris, someone who I don't know much about but he was plucked from Northland by the Penrith Panthers and has obviously made quite an impression.

The most exciting aspect about the Junior Kiwis is their halves. Te Maire Martin has been on the radar for a while and it seems like a matter of time before he's given a chance in the NRL by the Wests Tigers. Martin kicked the winning field goal for the Kiwis last year against the Kangaroos and was one of their best players so definitely keep an eye on him. His partner in the halves is Zach Docker-Clay and he's no mug himself. The Parramatta Eel, along with Martin have been staples of this side.

Some sort of prediction? To be honest, the Junior Kangaroos are the favourites, but who knows. Like, actually, who knows how these Under 20's games play out.

Fiji vs Papa New Guinea

I'm extremely happy that there's three games on Saturday and not just Samoa vs Tonga, which is headlined by seeing Fiji and Papa New Guinea go toe-to-toe. Fiji should be the favourites here with a fair amount of top level talent, but PNG are on the rise thanks to the PNG Hunters doing a great job early on in their Intrust Super Cup lives.

Fiji do have two of the form outside backs in the NRL with Kevin Naiqama lining up at fullback and Marikia Koroibete starting on the wing. Now I wouldn't be too surprised to see the Fijians look to get Koroibete plenty of ball as he's a bit of a beast so keep an eye on Koroibite coming off his wing.

They also have Brayden Williame in the centres, he's being doing a fine job for Manly as they've had to deal with consistent injuries to Steve Matai and Jamie Lyon. Williame will play alongside Eto Nabuli who has looked at home in the NRL with the Dragons so there's no shortage of quality in the outside backs for Fiji.

Don't sleep on their forward pack either with Apisai Koroisau starting at hooker and he'll be running out of dummy half as much as possible. With Korbin Sims playing at lock, they've got a young lad who will rip in and show up with those desperate plays, but he's also a big lad. Out on the right edge we'll see Jayson Bukuya, who is a dangerous ball runner and if his halves; Darryl Millard and Ryan Millard can flip a few short balls to Bukuya, he'll be a handful.

PNG have been able to call upon a few NRL players with Ray Thompson from the Cowboys to come off the bench and add some utility to the side while Nene Macdonald has looked great out wide with the Roosters. They also have Luke Page, the dude who was the star of that video for the Mounties, the human cannonball. Apparently he's got some PNG blood in him so that's pretty cool.

The Albert brothers have been snapped up by the Penrith Panthers with Stanton playing in the Under 20's and Wellington is lurking around reserve grade. Isreal Eliab is also an exciting young Kumul who as impressed with the Hunters and is also the skipper. There's another pair of brothers to keep tabs on as well with Rhyse and Tyson Martin both getting taste of Under 20's football and currently play in the Intrust Super Cup.

Definitely tune in to see blokes you've got no idea about though, especially with PNG. They took a great first step by getting the PNG Hunters into the Intrust Super Cup and as they live, train and play out of PNG it's great for local rugby league. Hopefully we'll see some of those rewards in their national side as well.

My head says Fiji, my heart says PNG.

Samoa vs Tonga

We could talk about this game until the cows come home, but we all know that whoever has the best halves for that 80 minutes, usually wins. Tonga have Samisoni Langi from the Roosters and Joel Luani from the Tigers, while from what I can see Samoa have gone with Carlos Tuimavave and Michael Sio. Yeah, this one's going to be brutal.

Samoa do have many talented ball players to fill the void and we saw in last year's Four Nations that Josh McQuire does a nice job at dummy half. Don't be surprised at all to see him there again as all he has to do is pass the ball and run when he sees the chance, while he will be defending in the middle which he does as a prop anyway. In fact, I think this will be to Samoa's benefit as it's obviously going to be a physical battle and not having a little hooker in the defensive line could help them win that battle.

I'd also pay great attention to Frank Pritchard and Sam Kasiano, especially Kasiano. It's one of the greatest sights in rugby league, seeing Kasiano do a bit of play-making as he can do a great job throwing a range of passes and carrying the ball like an apple. With their halves not being the bestest, we could see the Samoan forwards given the chance to play with freedom and a bit of creativity.

It's going to be interesting to see how Samoa line up as Dominique Peyroux, Ricky Leutele, Joey Leilua, Tautau Moga, Daniel Vidot and Tim Simona are all very similar players. What we do know is that it's going to be mayhem out in the centres with Konrad Hurrell and Solomone Kata lining up for Tonga out there. Regardless of who Samoa puts at centre, it'll be fun to watch.

I like this Tongan side as they appear to be more mobile and I reckon they'll be able to enjoy some success running the Samoans around the park. Siosiua Taukeiaho has been in great form at lock for the Roosters and along with Manu Ma'u from the Eels and Sika Manu from the Panthers, they have guys who can keep up with quicker blokes without loosing any go forward or aggression.

The same can be said about their prop rotation with Richie Fa'aoso and Peni Terepo both capable of looking like outside backs when carrying the footy. With young buck's Felise Kaufusi and Albert Vete to come off the bench, Tonga should be able to punch holes in and around the play the ball area.

It's actually going to be a very intriguing battle of styles as the Tongan outside backs give up a wee bit of size but have a heap of footwork and power.

On paper, I think Tonga are the underdogs but who doesn't like an underdog.