Warriors-bound interchange forward Erin Clark has been confirmed as the second player to make his Test debut for the New Zealand Kiwis in today’s Pacific Championships clash against Papua New Guinea at CommBank Stadium in Sydney (6.20pm kick-off local time; 8.20pm NZT).
The 27-year-old comes onto the bench for back rower Marata Niukore to earn his first Test for New Zealand before returning home to rejoin the One New Zealand Warriors after spending the last five seasons with the Gold Coast Titans.
His inclusion follows yesterday’s announcement that 18-year-old Penrith centre Casey McLean would play his maiden Test as a replacement for the injured William Warbrick. McLean and Clark become the sixth and seventh players to debut for the Kiwis during the Pacific Championships after Warbrick, fullback Keano Kini, hooker Phoenix Crossland, prop Naufahu Whyte and second rower Jordan Riki started their Kiwi Test careers against Australia in Christchurch two weeks ago.
Manurewa Marlins junior Clark burst onto the rugby league scene with the Warriors in the now defunct NYC under-20 competition in 2015 before making his NRL debut – and sole appearance – for the Warriors in 2017. The previous season he represented Samoa in two Tests.
After a two-year absence from top-level football in 2018 and 2019 Clark revived his career with Gold Coast in 2020 and went on to amass 94 appearances for the club including all 24 matches this season. He averaged 99 metres and 22 tackles a game.
