Manu Samoa

Manu Samoa motivated for 'huge game' against Argentina

Head coach Vaovasamanaia Seilala Mapusua has named Paul-Alo Emile in the front row, Paul Ala'nu'uese at locks and Ben Lam on the wing in the Rugby World Cup battle.

Lock Chris Vui gets to lead the team out with his co-captain and prop Michael Ala'alatoa on the bench.

Samoa needs to win the clash to give them an advantage over the Pumas, who lost their first game to England a fortnight ago.

England has two wins and leads on the points table.

Samoa are second but need the win to give them a better chance of qualifying for the quarterfinals.

Samoa set to fire in second World Cup game

The Pacific islanders eventually ran out 43-10 winners over the Chileans but Mapusua said they could not afford a similarly sluggish start on Sunday against the Pumas, who have twice reached the World Cup semi-finals.

"The boys realise that we're in the tournament now, we've arrived at the party and there are no second chances," Mapusua said.

"So this week in the whole squad there's been a real lift and an energy and we know that we've got a huge game against the Pumas on Friday. We won't be short of motivation."

Samoa happy to be off and running after Chile test

 

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.”

Rugby World Cup 2023: Manu Samoa claim win over Chile

They scored five tries and claimed two extra bonus points in the win, setting them in good position in a pool which England and Japan were victorious in last weekend.

Duncan Paia'aua (41'), Jonathan Taumateine (42'), Fritz Lee (47') and Sama Malolo (52', 81') were the Pacific Islanders try-scorers.

Former Wallaby flyhalf Christian Lealiifano scored 16 points and had the chance to play alongside former All Black opponent Lima Sopoaga colours in the Manu Samoa colours, the two partnering in the second half to drive the Samoans home.

Rugby World Cup 2023 Preview: Samoa

They haven’t reached the quarter-finals in the 21st century but this looms as their best shot yet.

The presence of Christian Leali’ifano, Lima Sopoaga and Duncan Paia’aua adds real depth to the playmaking ranks that they arguably haven’t had in a long time.

Combine that with several players gaining crucial Super Rugby experience with Moana Pasifika and you have the makings of a team heading to France with nothing to lose and everything to gain

How they qualified

Qualified as ‘Oceania 1’ after winning 79-28 against Tonga in the playoffs

Recent form

Alaalatoa outstanding in his captaincy role for Manu Samoa ahead of 2023 RWC

His first world cup was when he was named in Samoa's 34-man training squad for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, before being named in the final 31 on 31 August.

The 32-year-old has been influential leading up to the most anticipated rugby tournament after being appointed captain in three out of five warm up games.

The Seilala Mapusua coached side have been outstanding in their performance and managed to secure three wins out of the five matches.

Alaalatoa was also sharing the captaincy role with co-captain Chris Vui in the games against Barbarian FC and Ireland.

RWC2023: rugby league heroes are inspiring Manu Samoa

While the Manus had reached two quarter-finals at previous Rugby World Cups - in 1991 and 1995 - their rugby league counterparts took the world by storm last year when they reached the final of last year's Rugby League World Cup.

They became the first Pacific team to achieve that feat.

Former Manu star centre Seilala Mapusua, now head coach of the side, has been in France with his warriors for the last month.

Not far from their mind is the achievement that Samoans all over the world celebrated last year when Toa Samoa made history.

Manu Samoa's tight loss 'bodes extremely well' for World Cup upset

Samoa won two out of their three Tests in the Pacific Nations Cup, falling only to Fiji while toppling Japan and thumping Tonga.

Following the tournament, they have been boosted by a debut to former All Black Lima Sopoaga whose game management and experience guided the team around the park in last weekend’s tight encounter in Bayonne.

While it wasn’t Andy Farrell’s first-choice team, Samoa’s ability to challenge the Irish outfit in the contact and around the field will have again put their Pool D competition on notice.

Duncan Paia’aua is one of the Manu Samoa players to watch at the Rugby World Cup

He scored Samoa’s only try against Ireland in 36 minutes, showing their potential as a threat in the World Cup.

Despite the 17-13 loss, the Samoans proved to be tough encounter for the Irish lads.

He was also among the tryscorers in Samoa’s 34-9 win against Tonga 34-9 in the final round of Pacific Nations Cup, earlier this month.

The 28-year-old has proved his worth in the side to be named in starting-line up for all rugby world cup warm up games after making his international debut for Samoa against Italy in the 2022 end of year internationals.

Sopoaga outstanding in his debut for Manu Samoa

The fly-half contributed in Samoa’s strong outing after successfully kicking one conversion and two penalties.

However, Samoa fell short 13-17 against the world number one side.

Sopoaga is one of the three former All Blacks players that was named by Coach Seilala Mapusua for the Manu Samoa’s Rugby World Cup squad.

He was named alongside flanker Steven Luatua and prop Charlie Faumuin.