Samoa national rugby union team

The Marist Brothers brought the game of rugby to Western Samoa in 1924 and The Western Samoa Rugby Football Union was formed in 1924. On 18 August 1924, Western Samoa played its first international against Fiji in the capital Apia, the visitors winning 6–0. The match was played at 7 am to allow the Samoans time to get to work afterwards and was played on a pitch with a large tree on the halfway line. The return match was won 9–3 by Samoa to draw the series.

In 1954 Western Samoan visited both Pacific Island neighbors Fiji and Tonga but had to wait a further 20 years before a tour of New Zealand took place. The Samoans won one of eight matches on that tour.

The traditional tri-series between Tonga, Fiji and Western Samoa was established in 1982 with Western Samoa winning the first tournament. Wales visited Western Samoa and won the test 32–16 at Apia. The tour led to a return visit to Wales which brought Western Samoa out of International limbo, although Western Samoa were not invited to the first Rugby World Cup in 1987.

The following year a 14-match tour of Europe took place before a World Cup elimination series in Tokyo, which gave Western Samoa a place in the 1991 Rugby World Cup in Britain. They made a huge impact. After sweeping aside Wales 16–13 in Cardiff and defeating Argentina 35–12, and narrowly losing 3–9 to eventual champions Australia in their pool match, Western Samoa, a country with a population of 160,000, found itself in the quarterfinals against Scotland at Murrayfield. The Scots won comfortably 28–6, but the Samoans were clearly the personality team of the tournament. One Welsh fan ruefully remarked after Wales's defeat, "It's a good job we weren't playing all of Samoa."

Over the next two years the side had a number of notable wins. The most outstanding achievement were in Sevens where it won the 1993 Hong Kong and 1992 Middlesex Sevens. The 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa proved that the team belonged in top company. They again reached the quarterfinals after wins over Argentina and Italy, but were beaten 42–14 by the eventual winners South Africa. After the Cup, Manu Samoa made a 13-match tour of England and Scotland, drawing 15–15 with the Scots and going down 27–9 to England.

With the advent of professional rugby in 1995 it was vital for Manu Samoa to develop a new administrative structure. This was made possible with Fay Richwhite and the Western Samoan Rugby Union joining forces to form Manu Samoa Rugby Limited. Fay Richwhite invested $5 million from 1995 to 2004 into Samoan rugby.[3][4]

Japan vs Samoa Rugby Match at Chichibunomiya Stadium on 17 June 2012, which was won by Samoa 27-26

Samoa emerged from the 1999 World Cup with its honor intact after another shock 38–31 victory over host nation Wales in the pool stages. They again lost out to Scotland in the quarter final play-off.

Manu Samoa qualified for the 2003 World Cup with a 17–16 loss against Fiji, Earl Va'a missing an injury-time penalty. They recovered to beat Tonga both home and away and avenged that Fijian defeat with a 22–12 win in Nadi. They ultimately had to settle for second place in the round robin, behind Fiji on points difference, and a place in the tougher of the two Rugby World Cup 2003 pools alongside automatic qualifiers England and South Africa. In one of the games of the tournament, they led eventual champions England for most of the game before losing 35–22.

Samoa qualified for the 2011 World Cup after beating Papua New Guinea 73–12 in Port Moresby on 18 July 2009. They won 188–19 on aggregate over two matches against Papua New Guinea, having won 115–7 at Apia Park the previous week.[5]

Samoa began their 2011 World Cup campaign preparation with a flying start, after registering an upset against No.2 ranked Australia with a four-try-to-two win of 32–23.[6]

In November 2017, Samoa's prime minister and SRU chairman Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Sailele Malielegaoi announced that the organisation was bankrupt,[7] although those claims were denied by world governing body World Rugby.[8]

Samoa performing their Siva Tau before playing South Africa at the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

In one of the scenes of the feature film, Invictus, Western Samoa can be seen playing South Africa in the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

Men's World Rugby Rankings
Top 30 rankings as of 9 March 2020[9]
Rank	Change*	Team	Points
1		South Africa	094.19
2		New Zealand	092.11
3		England	088.41
4		Ireland	084.91
5		France	082.73
6		Wales	082.64
7		Australia	081.90
8		Scotland	080.68
9		Japan	079.28
10		Argentina	078.31
11		Fiji	076.21
12		Georgia	072.88
13		Tonga	071.44
14		Italy	071.07
15		Samoa	070.72
16		United States	068.10
17		Uruguay	067.41
18		Spain	067.14
19		Romania	065.36
20	4	Russia	062.13
21	1	Portugal	061.27
22	1	Hong Kong	061.23
23	1	Canada	061.12
24	1	Namibia	061.01
25		Netherlands	060.08
26		Brazil	058.89
27		Belgium	057.19
28		Switzerland	054.11
29		Chile	053.83
30		Germany	053.13
*Change from the previous week
Samoa's historical rankings
Source: World Rugby - Graph updated to 27 January 2020[9]

Below is table of the representative rugby matches played by a Samoa national XV at test level up until 23 April 2020.[10]

Opponent	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Win %	For	Aga	Diff
Argentina	4	3	1	0	75%	111	82	+29
Australia	6	1	5	0	16.66%	73	238	–165
Belgium	1	1	0	0	100.00%	37	8	+29
Canada	6	6	0	0	100.00%	169	103	+66
Cook Islands	3	3	0	0	100.00%	102	31	+71
England	8	0	8	0	0.00%	114	292	–178
Fiji	53	20	30	3	37.74%	921	1049	–128
Fiji XV	3	0	3	0	0.00%	20	58	–38
France	4	0	4	0	0.00%	49	156	-107
Georgia	5	1	3	1	20.00%	115	91	+24
Germany	2	2	0	0	100.00%	108	43	+65
Ireland	7	1	6	0	14.29%	108	256	-148
Italy	7	5	2	0	71.42%	175	109	+66
Japan	16	11	5	0	68.75%	311	501	+190
South Korea	1	1	0	0	100.00%	74	7	+67
Namibia	2	2	0	0	100.00%	89	25	+64
New Caledonia	1	1	0	0	100.00%	28	6	+22
New Zealand	7	0	7	0	0.00%	72	411	–339
Papua New Guinea	2	2	0	0	100.00%	188	19	+169
Romania	2	0	2	0	0.00%	37	49	–12
Scotland	12	1	10	1	8.33%	193	332	–139
South Africa	9	0	9	0	0.00%	99	431	–332
Russia	1	1	0	0	100.00%	34	9	+25
Spain	1	1	0	0	100.00%	28	10	+18
Tahiti	1	1	0	0	100.00%	33	11	+22
Tonga	65	34	27	4	51.56%	1144	973	+171
United States	7	5	2	0	71.42%	156	128	+28
Uruguay	1	1	0	0	100.00%	60	13	+47
Wales	10	4	6	0	40.00%	180	235	–55
West Germany	1	1	0	0	100.00%	54	9	+45
Total	246	104	133	9	42.28%	4929	5505	–576

On 31 August, Samoa named a 31-man squad ahead of the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

On 10 September, Pele Cowley was called up as a replacement for Scott Malolua following a dislocated shoulder.[11]

On September 26, Alamanda Motuga joined the squad in Japan after Afa Amosa sustained an injury in Samoa's opening match.[12]

• Head Coach: Steve Jackson
• Backs Coach: Chris Latham
• Forwards coach: Ben Afeaki

Note: Caps correct as of 12 October 2019

Player Position Date of birth (age) Caps Club/province Seilala Lam Hooker (1989-02-18)18 February 1989 (aged 30) 15 Perpignan Motu Matu'u Hooker (1987-04-30)30 April 1987 (aged 32) 22 London Irish Ray Niuia Hooker (1991-10-14)14 October 1991 (aged 27) 7 Highlanders Michael Alaalatoa Prop (1991-08-28)28 August 1991 (aged 28) 4 Crusaders Paul Alo-Emile Prop (1991-12-22)22 December 1991 (aged 27) 16 Stade Français James Lay Prop (1993-12-16)16 December 1993 (aged 25) 11 Bristol Jordan Lay Prop (1992-11-05)5 November 1992 (aged 26) 19 Bristol Logovi'i Mulipola Prop (1987-03-11)11 March 1987 (aged 32) 32 Newcastle Falcons Kane Le'aupepe Lock (1992-12-03)3 December 1992 (aged 26) 9 Hurricanes Filo Paulo Lock (1987-11-06)6 November 1987 (aged 31) 36 Unattached Senio Toleafoa Lock (1993-08-26)26 August 1993 (aged 26) 4 Nevers Josh Tyrell Lock (1990-10-16)16 October 1990 (aged 28) 10 Oyonnax Piula Fa'asalele Loose forward (1988-01-22)22 January 1988 (aged 31) 20 Perpignan TJ Ioane Loose forward (1989-05-09)9 May 1989 (aged 30) 24 London Irish Jack Lam (c) Loose forward (1987-11-18)18 November 1987 (aged 31) 37 Unattached Alamanda Motuga Loose forward (1994-09-11) 11 September 1994 1 Manurewa RFC Chris Vui Loose forward (1993-02-11)11 February 1993 (aged 26) 17 Bristol Pele Cowley Scrum-half (1993-04-16)16 April 1993 (aged 26) 14 Ponsonby Melani Matavao Scrum-half (1995-11-19)19 November 1995 (aged 23) 10 Aana Chiefs Dwayne Polataivao Scrum-half (1990-07-30)30 July 1990 (aged 29) 16 Unattached AJ Alatimu Fly-half (1993-03-25)25 March 1993 (aged 26) 6 Western Force Tusi Pisi Fly-half (1982-06-18)18 June 1982 (aged 37) 41 Toyota Industries Shuttles UJ Seuteni Fly-half (1993-12-09)9 December 1993 (aged 25) 5 Bordeaux-Bègles Kieron Fonotia Centre (1988-02-02)2 February 1988 (aged 31) 11 Scarlets Rey Lee-Lo Centre (1986-02-28)28 February 1986 (aged 33) 26 Cardiff Blues Henry Taefu Centre (1993-04-02)2 April 1993 (aged 26) 6 Western Force Ed Fidow Wing (1993-09-11)11 September 1993 (aged 26) 11 Worcester Warriors Alapati Leiua Wing (1988-09-21)21 September 1988 (aged 30) 30 Bristol Belgium Tuatagaloa Wing (1989-09-19)19 September 1989 (aged 30) 3 Unattached Tim Nanai-Williams Fullback (1989-06-12)12 June 1989 (aged 30) 15 Clermont Auvergne Ahsee Tuala Fullback (1989-08-23)23 August 1989 (aged 30) 22 Northampton Saints

Western Samoa's triumph in the 1991 Rugby World Cup was inspired by their assistant coach Bryan Williams, who was a New Zealand-born (of Samoan descent) All Black great of the 1970s. The 1991 Samoan World Cup team included many New Zealand born or raised players; the catalyst was Auckland prop Peter Fatialofa, who in 1989, became the first major New Zealand-based player to play for Samoa. By the time of the 1991 World Cup several other New Zealand-born Samoans like Pat Lam, Stephen Bachop, Frank Bunce and Apollo Perelini had joined him. New Zealand born players with Samoan parentage have played for Samoa, such as Earl Va'a, Pat Lam and Lome Fa'atau.

The rugby relationship that exists between New Zealand and Samoa is a complex one. Close ties exist between the two countries, these bonds first being formed with the start of mass Polynesian migration to New Zealand in the latter half of the twentieth century. In the 2007 World Cup there were 14 New Zealand-born players in the Samoan squad.[19] The only team with more foreign born players in their squad was Italy who had 15.[19]

Manu Samoa play in blue and white uniforms, with the home strip consisting of blue jerseys, white shorts and blue socks and the away kit being with the colours reversed. Since 2007, the flag of Samoa has been featured on the left sleeve and pe'a-like patterns were incorpored into the jerseys.

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• Bryan Williams 1999
• John Boe 2000–2003
• Michael Jones 2004–2007
• Niko Palamo 2008–2009
• Titimaea Tafua 2009–2011
• Scott Wisemantel 2011
• Stephen Betham 2012–2015
• Alama Ieremia 2016–2017
• Titimaea Tafua 2017–2018
• Steve Jackson 2018–present

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Samoa national rugby union team.

• Rugby World Cup
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• Pacific Islanders rugby union team
• Samoa national rugby sevens team
• Samoa Rugby Football Union
• Samoa national rugby league team

• Official website of Manu Samoa
• Samoa Rugby Union
• Manu Samoa Looking Forward For RWC2011 Manu Samoa Rugby blog
• Samoan rugby union news Planet Rugby
• The information website for supporters of the Manu Samoa Rugby Team
• Rankings International Rugby Board
• Pacific Islanders Rugby Team Supporters Site