Samoa sevens

The most capped player in Manu Samoa history, Muliagatele succeeded Sir Gordon Tietjens as head coach of the Manu Sevens last month.

Muliagatele, who was an assistant when Samoa won the Paris Sevens in 2016, said his focus was on developing a squad of local players to compete on the world stage.

The Manu sevens were outclassed 35-12 by Fiji, 22-17 by New Zealand and 24-10 by Kenya in pool play, and did not fare any better on day two, going down 19-7 against hosts France and 24-19 to Scotland.

Despite a disappointing end to the season Samoa still finished 10th in the overall standings, up from 13th the previous year.

They’re spot on too. First five-eighth Lauano, 29, has been a key architect of the club's premier team's 34-game unbeaten run during the past two seasons and retaining of the Maddison Trophy, Nash Cup and Hawke's Bay Challenge Shield this season.

Last year he played a major role for the Bay's most successful senior rep team, the Hawke's Bay Samoans, who captured the High Commission Cup.

Hawkes Bay Today reports on September 9 Lauano will be one of seven members of that side who will trial for the Samoa Sevens team in Wellington.

After missing out on the Cup quarter finals for the first time since January 2014, Fiji responded on day two by thrashing Russia 31-5 and Kenya 45-5 before beating Wales 26-14 in the Challenge Trophy final.

RNZI reports a ninth place finish for the weekend means the Olympic champions finish third behind South Africa and England in the overall standings.

Samoa had lost 29-21 against Wales in their Challenge Trophy quarter final before bouncing back to beat Japan 33-7 and Russia 24-19 to claim 13th place for the weekend and the season.

The Sir Gordon Tietjens side held Russia to a 19-all draw after wins in the other two pool matches against Australia and Fiji in the HSBC World Sevens Series in Paris overnight.

Tietjens told the Samoa Observer the abrupt resignation of the team's last trainer led to him bringing in his son to take on the role.

Paul is a 28-year-old physical education teacher who was also the conditioning trainer for the Bay of Plenty Sevens team for the last two years.

Tietjens senior said with only four tournaments left in the world series, the team was in dire need of a trainer who already knew his expectations and had experience.

USA Sevens winners South Africa will top Pool A but will not have an easy run through to the Cup quarter-finals as a tricky group awaits them on the west coast of Canada.

Former England Sevens player Rob Vickerman commented on the pool draw: “Pool A is a tasty one with South Africa and England but also Kenya as a team that can create some upsets. They often seem to play well against England, in particular, so that will be a match to look out for.”

The 21-year-old from Mount Maunganui now has his answer after Sir Gordon Tietjens selected him in the Samoan team for the next two legs of the HSBC World Series in Las Vegas and Vancouver.

"It is an absolute honour to play for them and I am really excited to play for them. The culture is different and I looking forward to it. It will be an awesome experience," Kayes said.

His biggest challenge is learning to communicate with his team-mates who speak Samoan.

The Manu lost all of their pool matches at the Wellington tournament last weekend and finished in 13th place, the same position they sit on the World Series standings.

Samoa Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi who is also Chair of the Samoa Rugby Union, visited the team at their hotel on the weekend to lend his support.

Tietjens said the team appreciated the gesture.

"They realise that it's not a quick fix about getting this team up and running again and getting them up to where they'd like to be," he said.

RNZ reports the Manu face hosts and defending champions New Zealand first up - pitting Tietjens against the team he coached for 22 years.

"We're going in there as the fourth seed in that pool, as the underdog really, so let's hope we can certainly turn it on and really play some great sevens," he said.

"It's a huge start for us playing New Zealand but, at the end of the day, if you're going to do well in this tournament you've got to play everyone and beat everyone really."