The five NRL internationals who confronted a man with a knife

September 20, 2026 — 3:00am

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It was a flashpoint on a night out that is the stuff of the NRL’s worst nightmares. A look into the price of fame of a big-time player.

When five internationals had to deal with a member of the public who pulled a knife on them – or, more specifically, on Tigers forward Terrell May.

Samoan quintet Jarome Luai, Brian To’o, Izack Tago, Blaize Talagi and May confronted a young man with a knife in the streets of Auckland last year. They were there preparing for a Pacific Championships match against New Zealand.

The incident has been kept quiet from the NRL and the Samoans. But it was the final straw for May, who left camp the next day.

He had other issues going on at home. He was worried about his little brother Taylan, who would have been in the squad but was ruled out with a hamstring injury. Taylan had been through his own troubles and Terrell didn’t feel right being away at that time.

But back to the night in question.

The players, all part of the Samoa squad, were having a peaceful dinner in Auckland at 7pm. The young man, perhaps aged about 17, recognised the players and made some remarks about Mt Druitt – the Western Sydney suburb some of the group are from.

His target was May, who is fiercely proud of where he grew up. May, who can handle himself, reacted by grabbing a stool to go after the knife-wielding youngster. It was instinctual. Fear and shock turned into anger, and he had to be held back by his teammates.

As a witness to the incident explained to me, there was a chance the teenager with the knife was going to find himself in danger from May.

The NRL said they did not know about the incident when asked for comment on Saturday.

That moment was not the worst thing to happen to May as part of that camp, and it’s not why he isn’t in the Samoan World Cup squad.

May wouldn’t go into the reasons for his absence when we contacted him to ask about the knife incident.

But what we have been told is that he has an ambition to captain the Tigers. To lead from the front. He is unhappy with what he gave the Tigers this year and genuinely believes he needs a big off-season to set himself up for 2027.

He also believes that, on form, he didn’t deserve to be part of the Samoa squad this time. May wants to focus on being a better player for Tigers coach Benji Marshall next year.

Bitter end for Tigers’ Luai era

The Wests Tigers are sick of Jarome Luai’s impact on their club and are hoping his no-show at the end-of-season awards night is the last time they need to deal with him.

Luai is braced for strategic leaks about his time at Concord, but it wasn’t the club that alerted the media to him not attending the presentation night – it was his own social media post.

What some in the Luai camp are wondering is why another key Tigers staffer – assistant coach Brett Hodgson – wasn’t at the awards night. Yes, Luai is a big figure, but so is Benji Marshall’s right-hand man.

In fairness to Hodgson, his family lives in France, and it is........

© WA Today