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Intense scenes as England's stand-off with Samoa gets heated and stuns 1 million

-Credit: (Image: BBC Sport)
-Credit: (Image: BBC Sport)


England's Rugby League World Cup clash against Samoa was explosive, but nothing tops the war dance stand-off before a ball was even kicked.

Not to be confused with the iconic haka, the Siva Tau is a completely different tradition, that is performed by the Samoan teams in both codes of rugby.

Before locking horns with the English on Sunday, Samoa began the pre-match ritual a few metres away from their opponents, before they eventually marched towards them.

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The England boys stood arm-in-arm as the Pacific Islanders bellowed their war cry and moved in unison. It was a hugely tense moment, that would only get more heated.

Now stood a matter of inches away from each other, the BBC cameras centred on Samoa's Gordon Chan Kum Tong and England's Mikey Lewis.

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There multiple moments where Kum Tong pressed his head on Lewis while screaming, as the Englishman stared back with intent.

Upon the big crescendo of their war dance, Kum Tong marched in and pressed his head a final time, with Lewis nodding and saying: "Let's go."

You can check out the footage below.

Across Instagram and TikTok, the clip has amassed more than a million views in just 24 hours.

The game at the Brick Community Stadium ended in a 34-18 victory to England, who will play their second and final Test against Samoa this Saturday at Headingley Stadium in Leeds. On the day, both Kum Tong and Lewis got themselves a try.