Seilala Mapusua

Samoa must win by 29 points or more with a bonus point against an England side who have secured top spot in the group, and hope Sunday’s match between Japan and Argentina ends in a draw without either side taking a try-scoring bonus point.

Mapusua has opted for a new front row with props Jordan Lay and Michael Alaalatoa either side of hooker Sama Malolo, who earns a second test start. The lock pairing of Sam Slade and Brian Alainu’u’ese also come into the team.

While Fiji look on course to reach the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time since 2007 after beating Australia 22-15 in Pool C, Samoa's own Pool D hopes were dealt a blow in Friday's 19-10 defeat to Argentina.

Samoa have not reached the knockout stages since 1999, when they qualified for the quarterfinal playoffs. They have not reached the last eight itself since 1995.

Four tries in 12 minutes around the break drove the Samoans to a 43-10 bonus-point victory but the Chileans were more than competitive for much of the opening half and in the final quarter.

“Great to get our campaign underway,” Mapusua said. “A lot to take from that game and we’ll be reviewing it. Full credit to Chile they really took it to us today and put us under pressure and that’s exactly what we needed.”

  Samoa fell short 13-17 against the world number one side just less than two hours after Fiji beat England 30-22.

Former Samoa center and head coach Seilala Mapusua says they were inspired by Fiji’s historic Twickenham win.

Samoa came close to claiming their own historic win against World No.1s Ireland, only to ultimately fall to a 17-13 defeat in miserable conditions in Bayonne.

The 32-year-old, who won 16 caps for New Zealand between 2015 and 2017, has played for Lyon in the Top 14 these past two seasons.

He and his family are currently waiting in France for their visas to allow them to move to Japan, where Sopoaga has signed for Koto Blue Sharks for next season. This has resulted in him training on his own while the rest of the Samoa squad has been preparing for its pre-World Cup matches, a schedule that began with last weekend’s away win over Japan and continues with this Saturday’s clash versus Fiji in Apia.

The Pacific Islanders haven’t been in that position since the eve of the 2015 Rugby World Cup and have been down as low as 17th spot in the intervening years.

But their victory over upcoming pool rivals Japan continued Seilala Mapusua’s honeymoon period as coach, which has produced seven wins and only one loss.

Japan had to play a large chunk of the game a player down after number eight Michael Leitch was issued with a red card for a high tackle on So’otala Fa’aso’o.

He says that match will give them a fair indication of where they are and what they will need to do as Japan is also in their pool in France.

Mapusua has the experience and rugby knowledge of four former All Blacks and one Wallaby player in his squad.

He has named former Wallaby fly-half Christian Leali'ifano and ex-All Blacks Charlie Faumuina, Steven Luatua, Jeffery Toomaga-Allen and Lima Sopoaga along with a handful of Moana Pasifika players from the Super Rugby Pacific competition.

Samoa is the only unbeaten side in the competition following two great come-from-behind wins against Australia A and Tonga.

This weekend they’ll take on the Flying Fijians and Samoa Head Coach Seilala Mapusua believes they’re heading in the right direction.

The former Highlanders and Manu Samoa center says they’ll face more than just the Flying Fijians this weekend.

“I expect it to go up a few levels, we will be playing the whole of Fiji with the crowd and we expecting a proper Test match”.

Coach Seilala Mapusua said some of the Ikale Tahi players featured alongside his men for Moana Pasifika so they are familiar with how they play.

He said Tonga will be coming out stronger especially after losing to the Flying Fijians in the first Test.

“We expect Tonga to be really strong. They’ve got some good players in their squad now and they’re well-coached by their coaching staff so we expect a really strong battle.”

Coach, Seilala Mapusua said, “There’s a few debutants. We have a good mix of experience players and new players and this is their chance to put their hands up for the bigger picture, the world cup. This week we are really focusing on the Australia A team, we know they have a lot of experience.”

Samoa has named eight debutants in the line-up against the Aussies.

Mapusua said they are aware of their tough opponents but are also confident of a strong outing.

Manu Samoa squad: