The Islands of Origin tournament kicks off on Wednesday with the Upolu Maroons facing the Savaii Blues in a best of three series. 

The tournament is the latest addition to the Rugby League Samoa domestic calendar and joins the new School of Origin series which also kicked off last year.

The Origin series replaced the Fantastic Four rugby league competition which ran for the past three seasons as the premier national domestic clash on the Samoan domestic calendar.

The tournament kicks off this Wednesday with the first match to be held at Prince Edwards Stadium, where last year's defending champions Tumua/Upolu Reds will face Puleono/Savai'i Blues for the championship.

Rugby League Samoa President, Tagaloa Fa'afouina Su'a, said in an interview with the Samoa Observer that he is very excited about this year's competition.

"We are looking forward to the second year running of the ‘Islands of Origin’,” said Tagaloa.

"The players selected into the Tumua Reds and Puleono Blues were based on where they were from in Upolu and Savai'i. 

“If you were born in Savai'i then you can represent Blues, but if you were born here in Upolu then you can play for the Reds.”

The President also added that all the players in the Blues and Reds team participated in this year's Samoa National Premier Rugby League Competition.

"We have players from this year's National Premier Rugby League champions Marist Saints, Apia Barracudas, Letava Bulldogs, West Tigers, Lauli'i Lions, and Falelauniu Storm," he said.

Mr. Su'a also added that they were looking to include a women's "Island of Origin" competition, but they could not find any sponsors willing to fund the women's tournament.

"We are an organization that recognizes the rights of women, and we also want to include a Women's "Islands of Origins" because we want the women's game to improve equally with the men's," said Mr. Su'a.

"Unfortunately we couldn't find a sponsor to financially support such a competition. Maybe next year we'd be able to initiate a women's competition.”