It's game day and rugby fans are out in full force as the All Blacks play in Samoa for the first time.

The enthusiasm with which the All Blacks have been greeted in Apia should get New Zealand Rugby thinking.

A Samoan-Kiwi opera singer will perform New Zealand's national anthem at the big showdown at Apia Park today.

With the All Blacks playing in Samoa this week, the Herald's Pacific Affairs reporter, Vaimoana Tapaleao, selects her top things to do on the islands.

Being named after your three older brothers - all of whom have had successful rugby careers - can be a burden for a teenager.

Family ties have gone out the window for one Samoan-Kiwi family who will have split allegiances at this week's first All Black test in Apia.

Manu Samoa have prepared for their battle against the All Blacks with hymns and prayers at a service at Our Lady of The Rosary church today.

Sweltering heat of 29°C and 74 per cent humidity await the men in black when they kick off their Rugby World Cup campaign and play a historic first test in Samoa.

Welcome to the Manu Samoa way of doing things - one which is a world away from the All Blacks, finds Patrick McKendry in Apia.

All Blacks' management have been liaising closely with Samoa Police before their historic test in July.

Newcastle centre Joseph Leilua says Samoa must use last year's impressive Four Nations campaign as their benchmark for Saturday's Pacific test against Tonga.

"Just the thought of people dating the same culture, Polynesians dating other Polynesians. You never see it nowadays. It's always been kind of like ... a taboo."

Demand for the much anticipated All Blacks test in Samoa has reached fever pitch - with many of the stadium's stands filled up and all eight corporate boxes sold out.

The Ministry for the Environment has released figures showing that carbon pollution, which New Zealand is adding to, increased 42 per cent globally.

Paul Rush samples the simple pleasures of Robert Louis Stevenson's Samoa.

It's not often the All Blacks can be accused of running scared but there are genuine fears over July's historic match against Samoa in Apia following an outbreak of a mosquito-born epidemic.

Anne Cairns is a veteran of a range of paddling sports. But at the canoe racing national championships next week she'll take the first step towards achieving Olympic qualification.

Hundreds of travellers and holidaymakers have been left stranded after flights to and from Tonga were cancelled yesterday because of a huge volcanic ash cloud.

The New Zealand Rugby League are considering staging a test against Samoa next year, off the back of the Pacific team's impressive performance in the Four Nations.

Where did you grow up? Mostly in Avondale but when I was 13 my dad took me to Samoa. We came back when I was 16.

Samoa are the poor cousins of the Four Nations tournament, with their players paid less than 10 per cent of what the Kangaroos and Kiwis are set to earn.

A week of self-examination awaits the Kiwis as they try to put the errors from Saturday's narrow Four Nations 14-12 league win over Samoa in Whangarei behind them.

In Samoa, Anika Moa heals her heartbreak and replaces lost lovers with newfound friends.

A scorpion has been destroyed after being found inside the tent of a traveller coming back into Auckland from Mexico at Auckland Airport.

Flights to Samoa around the date of next year's All Blacks match are almost three times as expensive as those the week before. Are they now out of reach?

There will be drums, family reunions, an insane amount of roast pork, incredible pride and emotion but, when the final whistle goes on July 8 next year, the story can't stop.

The All Blacks have taken the first step towards treating Pacific Islands rugby with the respect it deserves and laying the groundwork for activating brilliant sporting rivalries laying dormant.

Every day after work and just before dusk - signalling time for evening prayers - dozens of village boys and young men come together for a game of rugby.

The All Blacks’ charge to their World Cup defence will begin in the Samoan sun in July next year.