IN FOCUS SAMOAN RUGBY:A weak union and All Black intrusion have ensured Samoa rugby has always struggled. Gavin Cummiskeytalks to some islanders with ideas about how to turn things around
HOW COME Manu Samoa are an inferior rugby nation to Ireland? It is their number-one sport and they are huge physical specimens, blessed with sublime natural skills. Looking at the quality of their players littered around the globe, it simply makes no sense.
But, of course, that is the problem.
Two main reasons keep Samoa down. The greedy All Black recruitment scheme and Samoa’s inept rugby administrators.
A recent IRB report accused the guardians of Samoa’s rugby structures of fostering a “culture of complacency, even apathy” with regards to their high performance and training programmes. The IRB are funding them to the tune of €470,000 so they are justified in insisting the islanders get their feet off the desk and clean up the shop.
The goal for a young and talented Samoan is to make it to New Zealand or Europe. Go Black or go make some euro.
A quick trawl through the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup squads reveal at least one Samoan, in many cases several South Sea Islanders, on the books of the professional franchises spotted throughout Britain, Ireland, France and Italy. Not that the Samoan Rugby Union are aware of any of this. There are no databases to be updated.
“You have to make a big impact to be noticed,” admits Seilala Mapusua, the powerhouse inside centre who has done just that with London Irish.
Ezra Taylor, the recently-recruited Connacht backrower, is a prime example. The big man attempted to make himself available for his country, but no one was listening so he keeps on keeping on out west.
Also, there is a cosy backroom arrangement that the IRB seem powerless to break up.
“The New Zealand Rugby Union is in a relationship with the Samoan Rugby Union whereby they just keep taking their players,” says Matt Williams. “It is almost like a corrupt landlord – they take the elite player and they give back the New Zealand-born Samoans that they don’t want (for the All Blacks). The Samoans don’t look to their communities in Australia or overseas for players.”
This is nothing short of scandalous; the great All Blacks regularly pillage the islanders’ best natural resources (their most capped wingers in the modern era are cousins – Joe Rokocoko and Siti Sivivatu were born in Fiji) in an act of rugby colonialism that demeans the famed black jersey.
Of course the players are not at fault. Who could blame a 20-year-old for striving to attain the mythical status of becoming an All Black especially when their own national set-up is a shambles? The hope is this article will not be rehashed in several years time as an example of what has not been done to end such injustice. They call rugby a global game but how can it be if three rugby nations like Fiji, Tonga and Samoa are treated so disrespectfully?
“That’s a fair comment,” said Matthew Vaea, who was the scrumhalf on that 1991 Western Samoan World Cup team that stunningly beat Wales and Argentina. On Thursday Vaea sat before the Irish media at the Burlington hotel as Samoa’s team manager. We wanted to ask him what he felt about team-mates from that breakthrough side like Frank Bunce, Stephen Bachop and Pat Lam, who all ended up becoming All Blacks. Or about the great Va’aiga Tuigamala and how he too was taken from Samoan shores and made into a New Zealand rugby legend. But we settled for wondering why the All Blacks have never played a Test match in Samoa?
“That’s a question we ask ourselves.” And did you get an answer? “Mmmm, many answers but nothing direct.”
Remarkably, Vaea then defends the NZRU. “We believe our working relationship with the (New Zealand) union is getting stronger and hopefully within the next World Cup cycle we will get a visit from New Zealand.”
Why not now?
“The cycle of tier one, tier two Test matches are pre-determined before the World Cup so the people who select that sit on this part of the world and they choose it.”
How do you stop Samoa’s best players from playing for New Zealand, or even Australia? “We have had a pretty relaxed attitude. We are not there to prohibit players from chasing the goals that might suit them. We want our best players available.”
Seilala Mapusua freely admits he would probably have become an All Black if not for Tana Umaga, Aaron Mauger and then Ma Nonu.
Born in Samoa, life interrupted his island upbringing at aged four. “My father was a Methodist minister; he got stationed out in New Zealand by the church. I spent my childhood in New Zealand but the family moved back to Samoa when I was a teenager. So I did it the opposite way around. I stayed on and finished my schooling in New Zealand and went straight into an Academy set up in Otago.”
The schooling was at the famed Wesley College and he progressed to New Zealand schools and under-21s alongside Jerry Collins, Richie McCaw, Aaron Mauger and Mils Muilana. Eventually Mapusua was forced to choose: become an All Black and fight with several world-class second five eights or don the blue of his home country.
Otago team-mates Tony Brown and the great Jeff Wilson became the angel and devil on his shoulders.
“I think it was after a few beers. Tony said, ‘Go for Samoa. Would you rather 50 caps for Samoa or one for the All Blacks?’ Jeff Wilson was the opposite, ‘Do you want to join an elite club? Very few guys can say they played a Test for the All Blacks.’ Tana and Ma helped me to make the decision but I was born in Samoa, both my parents are Samoan. I’m Samoan. It was the logical choice.”
In many other cases peer pressure wins out. But Mapusua was not your average young Samoan. The decision meant Europe was the next port of call. He sits in Dublin this week with a simple solution that would allow the IRB give some power back to the Pacific Islands.
“I understand that once you pick a country it is yours for life and so it should be but a new amendment, which has been floating around for a year and a half now, would allow a player move from a tier-one nation to a tier-two nation. For the development of rugby globally I think that would be a huge step in the right direction.”
So, if you are given a token cap by New Zealand or Australia, or say just a handful, but the door appears to have been slammed shut, you can return to Samoa, Tonga or Fiji after a certain time period (say two years) has elapsed.
For now Mapusua and several other world-class operators like Leicester’s Alesana Tuilagi are trying to catch the tier-one nations cold with the minimum of preparation.
Samoa are the current world sevens champions and Pacific Nations Cup holders but many European-based players missed these games. It being a World Cup year, the trick now is to gel what is essentially three squads into one.
Old Samoan failings at halfback appear to have been corrected with the selection of Canterbury scrumhalf Kahn Fotualii (another who seemed destined to be an All Black) and Clermont’s (via rugby league in Australia) outhalf Tasesa Lavea.
“The senior players in the squad are really trying to figure out how we can improve it. Figure out where new systems can be put in place. We have pretty much accepted the fact it won’t happen while we are still playing, but we must do as much as we can now to get the systems in place,” said Mapusua.
“We need to take a big scalp to show our intentions of becoming a tier-one nation – to show we can compete at this level. That would bring all the off-field issues to the fore. With the new rules it does help the way we want to play.”
They have also been buoyed by the inclusion of the young sevens stars. “The sevens programme in Samoa has been a huge success. And they are all home-based players.”
It has given the world Mikaele Pesamino – the current sevens world player of the year featured against Connacht last Tuesday.
“Exactly. And now Mikaele has a contract with Sale. It gives the kids in Samoa another avenue to try and make a better life for themselves because unless they are playing club rugby in New Zealand it is very hard for a Samoan to get a contract overseas.”
And what of New Zealand, the home of more Samoans than Samoa itself, never playing a Test match in Apia? “Yeah, it’s a pity the All Blacks have never come home!”
