Samoa coach Matt Parish doesn’t have any trouble talking up the Kiwis but behind his obvious admiration there is a belief that his team are good enough to cause an upset.

Parish reckons if his players get it right they have the ability to beat the heavily-favoured Kiwis in their Four Nations rugby league Test at Toll Stadium in Whangarei on Saturday.

He was heartened by his team’s bold effort in their thrilling opening 32-26 loss to England last weekend but warned better was needed against New Zealand.

And his message to his Samoa charges is simple: “Bring your best game. Do whatever you’ve got to do to bring your best game because come kick off tomorrow we’re going to need it,” he said.

The Kiwis’ comprehensive opening 30-12 win over Australia showed their class and he said they were the side to beat in the Four Nations Tournament.

Parish said there weren’t too many weaknesses among the Kiwis.

“It’s one of the strongest Kiwi teams I’ve seen on paper for a long time.

“But I think if we turn up and play our A-grade game and we play as a team like we did last week we can definitely compete, we just need to fix up a few bits and pieces,” Parish said.

He said players like Frank Pritchard, Mose Masoe and Pita Godinet need to perform well again if they want to beat the Kiwis and a few others need to “jump on board with them”.

He was hoping for a little help from the wind and the weather – both of which have been in evidence in Whangarei this week, but the forecast for the game is looking good with fine weather predicted.

Samoan captain David Fa’alogo said they had to execute their plays better than they did against England, but an extra week together had helped prepare them.

“We’ve had the whole week to rectify the mistakes we made and the boys are pretty confident,” he said.

He said they had identified a few weaknesses in the Kiwi’s game but he was keeping his cards close to his chest.

“There are weaknesses wherever you look, the key is finding them (and exploiting them) during the game and that is what we’ll be trying to do tomorrow,” Fa’alogo said.