The roots of Samoa's rise to become a threat to Australia's Rugby League World Cup dominance were laid 34 years ago in the front room of a modest house in Auckland.
It was there as a 16-year-old boy that Willie Poching, who would go on to captain his country, would watch his father, the Samoan team manager Eddie, work the phones trying to get one of the country's big names to say 'yes' to playing for Samoa at the 1988 Pacific Cup.
