Rugby League World Cup: Kiwis name two test debutants to face Jamaica

The Kiwis have named two test debutants in the squad for their second match at the 2022 Rugby League World Cup against Jamaica on Sunday morning.

Canberra Raiders star Sebastian Kris - who famously stepped aside from the NRL in 2020 before reviving his career in 2021 - will start on the wing for the side while two-time NRL premiership winner Scott Sorensen will appear from the interchange.

Remarkably, the 29-year-old Sorensen will become the fifth member of the Sorensen family to represent the Kiwis at test level, more than 70 years after his late grandfather Bill Sorensen began his New Zealand career. He went on to play 24 Tests from 1951-1960.

His brother Dave, Scott's great uncle, represented New Zealand in 1971-1972 before brothers Dane and Kurt Sorensen – Scott's uncles – left an indelible mark on the rugby league landscape.

Between them Dane and Kurt played 45 Tests for New Zealand throughout the course of their outstanding professional careers spanning the 1970, '80s and '90s.

Dane finished his NRL career with 229 appearances for Cronulla-Sutherland and Eastern Suburbs including a then-club record 216 for the Sharks. Kurt made almost 130 NRL appearances for the Sharks and more than 250 for Widnes, ending his career with the club with a try in the 1993 Challenge Cup grand final loss to Wigan.

Canberra Raiders winger Sebastian Kris. Photo / Photosport

Kris, meanwhile, forms a new combination on the flanks with New Zealand Warriors winger and former Kiwi captain Dallin Watene-Zelezniak returning to the side for his 13th test after lasting appearing in the home series against Great Britain in 2019. They come in for Ronaldo Mulitalo and Jordan Rapana who both played in the opening 34-12 win over the Lebanon Cedars in Warrington last Sunday.

Further changes to the squad come in the form of Parramatta's Warriors-bound Marata Niukore being been named at left centre, replacing ex-Raider Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, and another of Penrith's grand final winners Moses Leota starting in the front row with his clubmate James Fisher-Harris.

Scott Sorensen was a try scorer in Penrith's second straight NRL premiership win in 2022. Photo / Photosport

Leota was named for the match against Lebanon but was ruled out after picking up a minor groin injury in the team's final field session. He comes into the side for captain Jesse Bromwich with Fisher-Harris chosen to lead the Kiwis on Sunday.

There's also a swap in the second row which sees Cronulla-Sutherland's Briton Nikora moved from his bench role against Lebanon to start against Jamaica, while Parramatta's Wests Tigers-bound Isaiah Papali'i is switched to the interchange.

Also out of the side this week is Canberra loose forward Joseph Tapine with Gold Coast's Isaac Liu recalled for his ninth Test.