St Helens centre Willie Talau has boosted Samoa's chances of clinching the last place in the 2008 World Cup.

The 31-year-old former Canterbury Bulldogs three-quarter will play for the islanders in Wednesday's repechage final against Lebanon at Featherstone, where the line-up for the 10-team tournament in Australia will be finalised.

Talau was a member of the New Zealand team that reached the last World Cup final in 2000 and won the last of his 12 caps but has followed the example of a host of former Kiwis in switching allegiance.

Leeds second-rower Ali Lauitiiti, Wigan loose forward Harrison Hansen, former Warrington stand-off Nigel Vagana and the Puletua brothers all played in Samoa's 42-10 semi-final win over the United States in Widnes last Friday.

"We're expecting a tough match because, if you look at the Cedars, most of their players come from clubs in Australian competitions," said Tony Puletua, who won 18 caps for the Kiwis.

"They will have been brought up in a competitive environment so we're taking them seriously."

At stake tomorrow is a place in Group C alongside Tonga and Ireland, with whom Lebanon drew twice in their European qualifying group.

Both teams went into the repechage after missing out on automatic qualification on points difference in their group matches. Lebanon knocked out Wales 50-26 last Friday to keep alive their hopes.

The Lebanese draw the bulk of their players from Australia and, with a big expatriate population in Sydney, believe they would draw big crowds to their pool matches.

Team manager George Elias said: "We have fantastic support not just from the Lebanon but from the sizeable Lebanese community in Australia.

"And, if we do beat Samoa we would be going into next year's finals in Australia confident that we would have the second-biggest support in the competition."

Sporting Life / Eurosport