Manu Samoa 7s

Head Coach Brian Lima has assembled a squad with outstanding players from past two tournaments.

The side features Paul Scanlan, who was an exceptional player at the Los Angeles 7s.

The 27-year-old has been awarded DHL Impact Player in five out of the total of six games they played altogether.

The line-up also features the likes of Tanu Niulevaea, Paul Eti Slater, who were both also outstanding players at the Los Angeles 7s.

Samoa will be facing Fiji in its first game on Friday, 31 March, at 8.28pm (Samoa Time).

The Men in Blue opened the score board scoring three consecutive tries in the first five minutes.

The tries were scored by Tanu Niulevaea, Paul Eti Slater and Owen Niue.

The Brian Liman coached side continued to break the defence line of the South Africans to score one more try and led 26-0 at halftime.

Samoa continued to score three more tries in the second half before South Africa scored the last and lone try of the match.

Samoa will now face Great Britain in the final of the 5th place play-off.

The Brian Lima-coached side will be going head to head with the current World Sevens Series leaders, New Zealand in their last pool game on Sunday.

Currently in third place, Samoa will face USA in their first pool game on Sunday, before they take on Chile in their second game on the same day.

The Los Angeles 7s will be held on Saturday and Sunday.

New Zealand is currently leading the series with 85 points, South Africa in second place with 76 points ahead of Samoa in third with 68 points.

France is in fourth place with 68 points.

 Sione sustained a season-ending knee injury in Sydney and is recovering from a reconstructive surgery in Auckland.

The 27-year-old is expected to return to the side next season.

The Island nation team is expected to feature Neueli Leitufia and Motu Opetai in the competition after they were both handed three match bans in Sydney.

The duo missed out on Samoa’s 5th place final in Sydney against Ireland and the last two weeks of club rugby in Samoa, making up the three weeks.

Samoa is pooled with Sydney 7s champions, New Zealand, USA and Chile at the LA 7s.

The side went down to New Zealand 12-0 in the first quarterfinals.

NZ proved to be too strong for the pacific lads and scored two tries from Roderick Solo and Ngarohi McGarvey-Black.

Samoa will now go on to play against Australia in the first 5th place semifinal before Ireland takes on Great Britain.

Meanwhile in the other cup quarters, South Africa defeated Ireland 26-12, Fiji defeated Great Britain 14-17 France.

South Africa will face Fiji in the first cup semifinals before New Zealand takes on France.

The side will be playing against current HSBC World Sevens series leaders, New Zealand in the first quarterfinal.

Samoa remained undefeated in their pool stage after beating Spain 35-15 in their last pool game.

New Zealand lost their last pool game after they were beaten 17-14, going down to a late South Africa penalty shot at goal after both sides had scored two tries.

The quarterfinal match between Samoa and New Zealand will kick start at 9.37pm.

The Brian Lima coached side won their opening match 17-12 against Ireland.

Samoa’s Paul Scanlan scored the first try of the match before Ireland played a good comeback scoring two consecutive tries from Jordan Conroy.

But that was not enough to maintain their lead after Samoa came firing back with tries from Leueli Leitufia and Motu Opetai.

Samoa also won their second match 26-7 against USA, today.

Samoa will face Spain in their next match at the tournament.

The team is in the same pool with USA, Ireland and Spain.

The Brian Lima coached side is 8 points behind New Zealand, who is now ranked top of the table with 63 points.

USA is in second place with 61 points, Argentina in third with 59 points ahead of South Africa with 57 points.

With four legs down and seven to go this season, the Top 9 teams are all still in the running to take out the HSBC 2022-2023 Sevens World Series.

The Sydney 7s begins tomorrow and ends on Sunday.

The thanksgiving service was attended by Afioga i le Ao Mamalu o le Malo Tuimaleali'ifano Va'aletoa Sualauvi II and Masiofo, Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa and Members of the Cabinet, Toa Samoa team and management, and Manu Samoa 7s team with family and friends.

Savali newspaper reports the church service was led by National Council of Churches (NCC) Chairman Rev. Aisoli Iuli.

Toa Samoa created history when they became the first Pacific team to play in the Rugby League World Cup last month.

The team defeated New Zealand 12-7 in the main final.

Samoa created an upset in the semifinals after defeating the host nation, South Africa 10-7 with a winning penalty kick from Faafoi Falaniko in the extra time.

This is after they defeated Argentina 21-10 in the quarterfinals yesterday.

The Brian Lima coached side kick started their campaign with 21-10 win against Uruguay at the tournament.

This was before they defeated Japan 45-0 in their second pool game and lost to Ireland 14-21 in their final pool game.