Roger Tuivasa-Sheck in stunning team switch to join Jarome Luai and Stephen Crichton

Warriors star Roger Tuivasa-Sheck has made the stunning decision to switch his international allegiance from New Zealand to Samoa. In what is one of the biggest international coups of the modern era, one of New Zealand's most accomplished players will join the likes of Jarome Luai, Brian To'o and Stephen Crichton in pulling on the Samoan jersey in the international side's upcoming tour of England.

The Warriors centre had been in talks with Samoa ever since his decision to return to rugby league late last year, following a stint in Super Rugby and with the All Blacks. And after 20 Tests and a Dally M Medal, Tuivasa-Sheck has ultimately decided to honour the nation of his birth and heritage.

The move will undoubtedly enhance Samoa's push to become a force to be reckoned with at the 2026 World Cup. After reaching the final in 2022, coach Ben Gardiner has been busy trying to secure more talent for the tier-two nation. And Gardiner believes having Tuivasa-Sheck on board will help lure even more talent to the international side. "He's been very complimentary about the opportunity to play for Samoa," Gardiner told AAP.

"He has said if his form merits it he would like to make himself available. When I've talked to Roger it's always been about building to the World Cup. We're trying to build a team so that when Samoa goes to the World Cup in 2026, everyone has played together and knows the styles and systems we have. It gives us an opportunity to take Samoa one better the next time around."

Samoan coach expects more to switch from tier-one nations

Gardiner believes Tuivasa-Sheck won't be the last to switch from a tier-one nation to Samoa this year, with the Penrith assistant revealing he has held talks with close to 60 players across the NRL this year. "I'd like to hope there would be some other guys who will make the decision because they want to play for their heritage," Gardiner said.

"We would like to think the camp we put into place last year that was enough to get players talking. We wanted to get a real synergy of rugby league high-performance culture and religion, the Samoan way.

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"The biggest thing that talks around footballers is footballers. (If they're saying to each other) 'it's very professional, it's going to be similar or better in that manner to being in New Zealand or the Australian camp,' then I think we a point of difference in our ability to connect the heritage."

with AAP