Head coach Muliagatele Brian Lima had selected 12 local players to contest this weekend's repechage, but Tipa Sapeti failed to recover from an injury sustained in a practice match during the week.
Tuatagaloa is the only survivor from the Samoan team that was beaten by Spain in the Olympic repechage final five years ago, when Lima was the assistant coach.
"He knows exactly what happened and also he motivates some of these (other) players and we don't want it to happen again this year."